The Chaos Plane
by Rosalind2013
Summary: When a powerful supervillain hatches a plan that has the potential to change the world as they know it, the Hive Five uncharacteristically steps up to put a stop to it. Not that they're "playing hero", or anything. Kyd Wykkyd centric. A little bit of Flinx and RobStar. Rated T for violence.
1. Borrowing From Friends

When a powerful supervillain hatches a plan that has the potential to change the world as they know it, the Hive Five uncharacteristically steps up to put a dent in his plans. Not that they're "playing hero", or anything. Kyd Wykkyd centric. A little bit of Flinx and RobStar. Rated T for violence.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Teen Titans related.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Borrowing from Friends**

A young boy lay sprawled on the ground in a puddle of his own blood. He was choking on it, drowning in it; wanted to scream, but couldn't make a sound. One might have thought that the pain would be the worst part of the experience, but in the midst of all of this, he thought to himself, "What a pathetic way to die. Drowning in my own blood". He gurgled down a few more sticky lungfuls of air, seething about his rather undignified end. The distant sound of sirens were a soft lullaby as his whole world went black.

The boy awoke to a throbbing pain, the incessant beeping of a cardiograph, and the noxious smell of antiseptic. He'd awoken in this position often enough to instantly recognize that he was in a hospital. He had his wonderful alcoholic father to thank for that. He shook his head in annoyance, and pushed the call button on the side of the plastic bed. It beeped, and a nurse uttered a quick greeting before questioning the nature of the call.

Elliot opened his mouth to respond that he'd like to see his doctor, but instead was assaulted by a searing pain in his throat, and his 'voice' emerged as nothing but a hollow rush of air. He panicked, clutching the thick bandages around his neck as the electrocardiograph went wild.

It wasn't long before nurses began to pour into the room, reminiscent of the activity of worker ants after having their home stepped on. Several nurses were able to restrain him, as another prepped a needle with what appeared to be some sort of tranquilizer. He was about to inject the terrified patient when a rather frazzled looking doctor arrived, who discouraged the use of the tranquilizer, pointing out that the boy had already ceased resisting restraint. The doctor approached the boy, his arms raised and palms forward in a sign of peace, "Elliot, we're here to help. Can you stay calm, so my friends can let go of you?"

The boy opened his mouth once more, but after recalling the pain that had accompanied his prior attempt at speech, he opted for a head-nod instead. The nurses reluctantly relaxed their stranglehold on the patient, and stepped away cautiously, eyeing him as if he were about to leap from the bed and attack the doctor. The boy involuntarily smirked as he considered the absurdity of such a thought.

The doctor cleared his throat nervously, and tugged on his carelessly rolled-up left sleeve. He pushed his square glasses up on his nose before speaking, "Let me cut right to the chase. Elliot, obviously someone slit your throat." The boy nodded, a serious expression adorning his face. The doctor sighed, "When that happened, your vocal cords were damaged. Your throat will heal up nicely, hopefully with minimal scarring...but...you'll never speak again."

The news hit Elliot like a ton of bricks.

* * *

Over the years, Elliot had learned to live with his condition. While he did learn to use sign language, his telepathic abilities allowed him to communicate rather effectively with those who did not understand the former mode of communication. He had actually learned to cope with the pain of losing his voice, which he told himself had nothing to do with the savage revenge he exacted on his father a few years ago.

It no longer bothered him that "good ole' Dad" had forever silenced his nine year-old child's incessant questions eight years ago; he no longer felt inclined to ask any. Whether this personality shift would have happened with or without a voice remained unseen.

He stood atop a roof, one leg propped up on the ledge as he stared down at the city, watching the clueless civilians go on about their lives with an expression of boredom decorating his masked face. Nothing to do, nothing to steal; no desire to go home. He yawned, making no effort to cover his mouth. Suddenly, his communicator chirped, and once he opened it, he was faced with his partner in crime, See-More.

He raised an eyebrow, as if to ask what he wanted. See-More got the message, and responded promptly, "Gizmo found something for us to...borrow from a friend of his". Kyd Wykkyd frowned; borrowing from 'friends' was seldom a fun experience, particularly when it was a friend of Gizmo's. The boy genius wasn't known for his sparkling personality.

See-More chuckled, "I know, I know! But this time, it's something good!" Wykkyd shrugged lazily and shut off his communicator before wrapping his cloak around himself and teleporting to headquarters. Upon his arrival, he noticed that Mammoth was in the middle of cleaning out refrigerator. Given what he had heard about the state of the Titans' fridge, he was grateful that their food never stayed there long enough to become blue and fuzzy. Gizmo sat on the couch next to See-More, impatiently awaiting the arrival of their missing teammate.

He tapped his foot furiously as he stared up at his presentation, which was being projected into the air in front of them. After a few more seconds, he began muttering under his breath about the tardiness of the red-suited Texan known as Billy Numerous. Kyd Wykkyd leaned against the far wall, crossing his arms across his chest.

Their tardy teammate finally arrived, and, without uttering so much as an apology, flopped onto the couch with a rather large bucket of fried chicken. Mammoth walked over and attempted to shove his gigantic hand into the container, when one of Billy's clones proceeded to slap his hand away in the manner of a peeved mother. "Hey!", Mammoth complained. Gizmo groaned angrily, and jumped on top of the coffee table, "Pay attention, you idiots! Sheesh." The room grew silent, as all eyes landed on their diminutive leader, who smiled in approval and clicked the button which controlled his presentation.

"This", a holographic picture of a tall man with a rather creepy purplish eyes, and a clear glass display of his rather freaky looking brain, appeared. "- is Psimon. He's a pit-sniffin' telepath who double-crossed me. I was supposed to get a cut of his profits, but I hacked into his computer network and learned a little bit more than I was supposed to know.

He cut me out of the deal and called the Titans to come pick me up. I got away, and I took this little tid-bit of information with me." Gizmo grinned mischievously as another push of a button caused the display to change to a rather complicated looking schedule of events, along with what looked like a chronicle of names.

His small eyes scanned the group of young men before him, and met with varying expressions of confusion and disinterest. His temper began to boil, "Don't you understand what this means!?" Billy lifted a finger, "Uhhh... No." Gizmo scoffed, "It _means_ that he's gonna try to take over the world." His teammates simply blinked, unfazed by this information. Mammoth snatched a piece of chicken from Billy before speaking, "Big deal. Everybody wants to take over the world."

Gizmo slapped the palm of his hand to his forehead before pointing to what was indeed a list of names, "Don't you guys see! He's building an amplifier so that he can take over the minds of select people to be in his army. Our names are all on this list!" Billy dropped his bucket of chicken, as he jumped up to get a closer look at said list. He looked it over once, twice, three times.

Billy locked eyes with his cowled teammate who was still leaned up against the wall,

"All except for you, Kyd!"

* * *

**A/N: This story is actually completely finished. I plan to upload on a weekly basis. This week, however, I will put up two chapters because this chapter is very short.**

**Reviews would be much appreciated!**

**~Rosalind**


	2. Playing Hero

**Chapter 2: Playing Hero**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything Teen Titans related.**

* * *

Within the span of a few seconds all of the young men were crowded around the holographic list, except for Mammoth, who took it upon himself to clean up Billy's chicken out of the floor. Billy placed his hands on his hips angrily, "Hey! Nobody tells Billy what to do!" He turned and faced one of his clones, patting him on the shoulder, "- except for you, Billy." See-More's single eye grew wide, "Jinx is on here! Shouldn't we tell her about this?"

Gizmo angrily shut off the projection, "NO WAY! Jinx is with the Titans now. She'll get what's coming to her." Kyd Wykkyd expertly snatched the controller from Gizmo and turned the hologram back on so that he could also peruse the list. He gestured for See-More to come look, and pointed out the names of the Titans.

See-More stared thoughtfully, scratching his chin, "Yeah, he's right. All of the Titans are on here, too."

Kyd shook his head, and lifted up his cape, showing it to his friend. See-More's eye widened once more, and he snapped his fingers as he understood what his mute friend was telling him. "Raven's not on the list either, huh? That's really weird, Kyd."

Not that he wasn't grateful not to be a target, but Kyd Wykkyd couldn't help but wonder why Psimon didn't put his name on the list. Did it have some link to why Raven's name was also missing? Did he blame Kyd for Raven's escape when they worked with the Brotherhood of Evil a few months ago?

Gizmo waved his hand in dismissal, "Yeah, whatever. That's not important. Look, we need to make sure Psimon doesn't get the rest of the shipments he needs to build this device. If that crud-muncher gets ahold of this stuff, he'll be able to turn us all into zombies!"

Mammoth finally spoke up after polishing off the remaining chicken, "That sounds a whole lot like playing hero to me." Gizmo threw his head back in frustration, "Don't remind me."

Kyd Wykkyd stood on the ledge of yet another building, binoculars in hand, watching for the truck that would bring in the telepath's latest shipment of supplies for his invention. Gizmo had given his buddy the license plate number to look for, now all he had to do was wait.

When he spotted the number, See-More informed him that there was only one person in the truck, and he quickly executed a plan he had enacted so many times that seemed like clockwork to him now. In an instant, Kyd Wykkyd appeared in front of the truck, shocking the driver into slamming on brakes.

People often reacted multiple ways in this situation, and the man behind the wheel of this truck was much more level-headed than most; he seemed to see the danger in swerving to either side. Instead, he simply hoped and prayed that the truck would stop in time. Wykkyd smirked and teleported at the last second, planted a brick underneath the truck's tires, then teleported behind it. All of this took place in the breadth of a millisecond.

The transport truck screeched to a halt, and the frazzled driver emerged in a state of panic, running forward to inspect the front of the truck. He proceeded to peek underneath it, and then ran as fast as humanly possible to the back of the truck. The teenager who had appeared in front of his truck lay in a crumpled heap in the middle of the road.

"Oh God!", he exclaimed, and ran to the teen's side, placing a shaky hand on his shoulder. The caped teenager's head snapped up, and the man's terrified eyes met with a malevolent pair of blood red orbs. In a fluid motion, the heel of Kyd Wykkyd's foot connected with the driver's temple, knocking him out cold on contact.

Kyd was now in a standing position as he gave a thumbs-up to what looked like a glowing green circle in an alleyway. See-More emerged, using the laser setting of his eye to cut the locks on the back of the truck. Mammoth wrenched the doors open, while See-More and Wykkyd stood lookout on either side of the truck. The hulking teen retrieved the package, with the radio assistance of Gizmo, and threw it to Kyd, who teleported it to their designated weaponized warehouse for safekeeping.

Gizmo sat in front of his command center, watching the events of the night with approval, "One down, five to go."

–

To say that Robin was annoyed was a major understatement. In the time it had taken for his team to get dressed and arrive at the scene of the crime, the perpetrators had gotten away.

Raven was speaking to driver, who couldn't seem to remember much at the moment, while Cyborg was scanning the scene for clues. Beast Boy sniffed around in the form of a hound, and Starfire searched aerially, hoping to find some clue as to who committed the crime.

Robin ran simulations in his mind, trying to figure out how to make his team's dressing routine more efficient. So far, the only solution he had come up with was to make his whole team sleep in their costumes, much like he did most nights. Cyborg interrupted his reverie, "Hey Rob, someone disabled the truck's communication systems remotely."

Robin rubbed his chin with this forefingers, "So it was someone tech-savvy." Robin walked over to the back doors of the truck, which had been pried off of their hinges. Cyborg furrowed his brow, "Must have been somebody pretty strong. They left imprints of their hands on the doors." Robin nodded thoughtfully as he traced the raised and bubbled scars left on one of the locks, obviously by a laser beam. "Hm... Why rip the doors off the hinges after cutting through the locks with a laser?" Cyborg shrugged, knowing that Robin would continue regardless of whether he answered, "Unless there were multiple people involved. One who cut through the locks, and another who ripped the doors off in a show of brute strength."

Raven approached, her face completely devoid of emotion, "I was able to help the driver recover some of his memories. He says that he hit a teenage boy wearing a cape and cowl that reminded him of Batman. He got out to check on the kid right before he blacked out." Robin narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "Kyd Wykkyd?" Raven responded in her signature monotone, "No doubt". Cyborg crossed his arms, "So we're dealing with the Hive 5. This was probably Mammoth, See-More, and Wykkyd."

Suddenly, Robin's communicator chimed, revealing the coordinates of yet another robbery of a similar nature. His eyes widened in shock, as an additional set of coordinates popped up. "If these are all the Hive, they're gettin' better, man," Cyborg commented. Robin grunted, then quickly dispatched Starfire and Raven to deal with the first set of coordinates, and Cyborg and Beast Boy to address the second problem. He stayed behind to quickly take inventory of what had been taken from the first crime scene, before he left to join Cyborg and Beast Boy.

When Raven and Starfire arrived on the scene, they were greeted with a sight similar to the last call they responded to, though quite a bit less messy. The truck driver sat in the back of the truck amongst the packages he was delivering, staring aimlessly at the wall. Starfire walked to the door of the truck, calling out to ask the man if he was okay. He simply said, "There were too many of them. I couldn't stop them."

Raven stepped forward, speaking softly, "It's okay, no one blames you." Starfire nodded assuringly, "Yes, please inform us of who did this." The guy sighed, "The weirdo dressed in red who multiplies. Called himself Billy Numerous. He ambushed me, and snatched me out of the truck. After he forced me to unlock the door, this kid that looked kinda like you", he pointed to Raven, "- showed up and disappeared with the package. Then the other kid left." Starfire looked to her teammate, "The Hive 5." Raven nodded, "Let's meet up with the others."

Starfire gasped upon opening her communicator, "Raven, another crime is being committed!" The sorceress checked her own communicator, hoping against hope that it was a glitch. Sure enough, there were two red dots on her screen.

That made four different truck robberies by the Hive 5 in one night.

She locked eyes with the fiery red-head, "Let's try to intercept the new one." The Tamaranean nodded in return, and they took off for the fresh set of coordinates at a blinding speed. Raven was not quite as fast as her alien friend, but she wasn't about to fall behind.

They arrived in time to spot See-More cutting through the locks of an overturned truck. He was about to swing the doors open when Starfire barreled into him at full speed, knocking him into a brick wall before he was able to turn his laser on her. They then engaged in a rather perilous game of laser tag.

Raven spotted Kyd Wykkyd, who materialized in front of the doors and yanked them open. Raven allowed gravity to take hold of her, and delivered a devastating kick...to the wall of the truck. The flimsy metal caved under her boot, and a nice imprint of her daintily sized foot was left in the side of the truck.

Kyd Wykkyd pulled her arm behind her, and shoved her into the wall of the truck, planting her face in the exact spot that her footprint was. She then proceeded to pelt him in the back with random packages, which forced him to release her arm in order to protect the back of his head. Kyd Wykkyd grabbed his package and reached for his cape, but was prevented from teleporting away when Raven proceeded to tackle him and pin him to the ground.

"What's your game?", she snarled. Wykkyd simply huffed what would have been a sigh, had he a voice. Her eyes widened as she realized that Kyd Wykkyd wasn't simply the 'strong silent type'. He was actually mute.

The little bit of her face that was visible beneath the shadow of her hood suddenly became tinged with red; a reflection of her embarrassment. She clamored back to her feet, offering a hand to help him up – her version of an apology. Wykkyd lifted a hand as if to take hers, and swiftly proceeded to snatch his cape around himself and disappear from sight, along with his stolen goods. Raven slapped her hand to her forehead, cursing her own stupidity.

* * *

Kyd Wykkyd teleported to another safe-house, which was a good distance away from the first one. He stashed the package in an underground steel-reinforced bunker, went back to rescue See-More from a barrage of starbolts, and then did the same for Mammoth and Billy Numerous. His group of friends were now back at home again.

Gizmo stood in the middle of their common room, a delighted smirk on his face, "Good job guys! How's _that_ for an organized theft?" Billy Numerous guffawed, "Them Titans didn't even know what hit 'em!" See-More smiled, throwing an arm around his silent friend, "We should do that more often. Kyd, you were awesome!" Kyd Wykkyd shrugged mildly, as if to say that it wasn't a big deal.

See-More shook his head quickly, "No, it _was_ a big deal! We couldn't have pulled it off without you." Gizmo waved his hand in dismissal, "Yeah, yeah. You're forgetting about the brains of the operation. I was pretty awesome too!" See-More chuckled to himself before trying to diffuse the bomb, "I guess we were all pretty awesome! Don't ya think, Kyd?" The mute boy nodded, a small smile adorning his pale lips.

Cyborg and Robin sat together on the Common Room couch, looking over the list of the stolen objects. "Yo, Robin. I just can't find a link here. It doesn't look like anything valuable was in those boxes," Cyborg asserted. Robin's eyes narrowed beneath his mask, "So it's not their style. The question is, whose is it?"

The boy wonder looked up the supposed recipients of the packages. All were addressed to different names and places. Robin pinched the bridge of his nose between his forefingers, "Nothing helpful there." The African-American teen sighed in resignation, "Maybe we should take a pizza break, and come back to it." Robin chuckled under his breath, "The solution to everything."

Gizmo and See-More sat on the couch in their own common room, looking over their checklist while their other teammates rummaged through the fridge for food. Gizmo suddenly stood up, demanding his team's attention. The other teens turned to face him, and he began his announcement, "We've taken out four of six shipments, but the other two are going to be more spread out. Psimon has to know that somebody's targeting his stuff, so he's gonna make sure it's heavily guarded this time. He can go without some of the crap we nabbed, but these next two packages are going to be super important to him. We're gonna have to time this right."

Billy began to hoot, "Go big, or go home!" Gizmo grunted his displeasure at being interrupted, "Next shipment arrives in Central City, instead of the other side of Jump, like it said on the original list." Kyd Wykkyd raised an eyebrow, and See-More seemed to catch on quickly, "He's right, that's where Jinx is!" Gizmo shrugged, "We'll be gone before those pit-sniffers even know we're there." Mammoth cracked his giant knuckles with a smirk, "And if not...we'll get to kick that sorry traitor's can before we leave."

Billy's stomach growled loudly, drawing the attention of his teammates. He chuckled nervously, "Fridge is empty." Mammoth grinned mischievously, "Then let's fill it up." Kyd Wykkyd shook his head rapidly at See-More, who spoke for them both, "Hey guys, we think that's a bad idea. We should lay low for a little bit!"

Billy Numerous guffawed and slapped his knee, "We got nothin' to worry about! Those Titans ain't no match for us!" The other boys erupted in a chorus of assent. When See-More noticed that he and his partner were outnumbered, his eye darted back and forth, betraying his uncertainty, "Well, we didn't get caught the last four times..." Gizmo took that statement as a go-ahead, and charged forward, "Come on, Hive 5! We're going shopping."

Gizmo, Mammoth, and about ten Billys exited the base; See-More looked to Wykkyd, who stood with his arms defiantly crossed over his chest, "You coming?" The mute teen shook his head, his chin set in determination. His friend placed a hand on his shoulder, "Well somebody's gotta look after 'em, Kyd. They need you!" With a narrowing of blood red eyes as his only response, the cyclops turned to other methods of persuasion. "Pretty please with a cherry on top? C'mon Kyd! Please?" The cowled teen's glare wavered, as he sighed in frustration, shrugged stiffly, and stormed out the door.

–

The Teen Titans sat atop their favorite pizza parlour, staring down at the hustle and bustle of Jump City from their moderately comfortable plastic seats. Raven sighed, repositioning herself once again on the chair in which she sat, "Does it bother anyone else that these seats don't have backs on them?" Robin cocked an eyebrow at her, "Never noticed." Starfire frowned, "It does not bother me at all. I find it quite beneficial to my posture." Beast Boy chuckled once before responding, "Posture-smoshure. I'd rather be able to lean backwards than have to slump forward to get comfortable."

Cyborg waved his arms giddily before pointing toward the door, "Yo! Pizza's ready!" The news yielded a cheer from the Titan table, and the waitress smiled in spite of herself, "Two meat lovers, one dessert, and a veggie," She glanced knowingly at the alien princess, "- and I brought you a bottle of mustard." Starfire squealed with joy and showered the kind waitress in gratitude. Cyborg pretended to crack his knuckles, "Let's dig in, y'all!"

Their celebration was interrupted by the cacophonous sound of an explosion down the street. All five Teen Titans and a blonde waitress watched the members of the Hive 5 exit the supermarket; most of Billy's clones pushed grocery carts full of food, while Gizmo and Mammoth led the charge. See-More took up the rear, looking a lot more nervous than usual. Cyborg's face fell, "Aw man." Robin was already on his feet, an air of authority surrounded him as his brain clicked into leader-mode, "Titans, go!"

Kyd Wykkyd refused to participate in a plan so obviously doomed to failure. He instead opted to wait in an alley across the street, in order to jump in and help them when it became necessary. There was little question in his mind that the robbery would go awry, and he was not disappointed.

Almost as if on cue, the Teen Titans descended upon his team like a hawk upon a mouse. He shook his head in frustration before teleporting into the midst of the fray. His heavy black boot collided with the side of a green gorrilla's face; the blow was a powerful one, but it failed to knock the creature off of its feet. It did stagger backward a few steps, dazed. Wykkyd laughed silently and teleported away, crashing into the alien princess and knocking her out of the sky. He teleported before hitting the ground, and reappeared on the back of a green tiger, which he placed in a tight stranglehold.

It instantly became an elephant, effectively breaking his grip with the change in size. The cowled teen leaped from its back, and suddenly the elephant was flying through the air, courtesy of Mammoth. Upon making impact with the brick wall, Beast Boy reverted back into his human form. In an instant, Kyd Wykkyd was before him, lifting him up by the collar of his shirt. Beast Boy glared into his ruby red eyes with an intensity few would have expected from the jokester.

Suddenly, Kyd Wykkyd's head snapped to the right in response to the fist that had smashed into the left side of his face with blinding force. He paused for a second, and then dropped Beast Boy on his rump, turning to face his assailant. His eyes landed on a pair of angry violet orbs, and he rubbed his left cheek absentmindedly. Raven's hands were on her hips as if she were reprimanding a child, "Leave him alone."

Wykkyd tilted his head to the side, effectively communicating his confusion and disdain simultaneously. She let loose a well aimed kick at the side of his head, which connected with nothing but air. As the sorceress huffed her frustration, Beast Boy leaped to his feet with a teasing smile in place, "Didn't know ya cared, Rae." She shot him a glare that could make a grown man cry before she turned and walked back into the fray without a word.

About fifteen minutes later, the Hive Five sat around in their common room nursing their many bruises, a single grocery cart as their consolation prize. Billy sighed disappointedly, "I knew this was a bad idea." Kyd Wykkyd shot him a look that immediately silenced him. See-More spoke up in an effort to diffuse the tension, "Well, at least none of us got sent to jail, right?"

His teammates looked only at their shoes, and responded in a dejected chorus of agreement. Kyd Wykkyd seldom felt the need to speak, which is why all members of his team were shocked when his telepathic voice echoed through their minds, 'I'm going to bed.' With that, he unceremoniously exited the room, leaving his teammates staring after him long after he disappeared. Mammoth broke the silence, "Well somebody's grumpy."

–

Psimon sent a mental shockwave that shook the rocky foundations of his underground base. He was furious. He was missing four shipments that contained the unique pieces he needed to build his amplifier. They had all been custom made by ceramics artists from around the world, who thought they were creating an exotic sculpture for some eccentric billionaire buyer.

Since they were made of glass, no one in the post office would bat an eye at the shipments. His only mistake was involving that sniveling child, Gizmo, in his plan. He should have planned more thoroughly for the possibility that the boy would become curious as to why he was building satellites and launching them into orbit.

Psimon consoled himself with the fact that, though it would take a while for him to have the missing four pieces made again, it would not affect the second phase of his master plan. The metahuman army was devised as an afterthought; the robots that the boy genius had provided him were attending to his original intention.

The machines worked on an assembly line, creating the true army of mechanical insects that resembled the common gnat. "The remaining shipments should arrive on schedule", Psimon chuckled to himself with a malevolent glint in his eye as he oversaw the process. "Yes, right on schedule."

–

Jinx nervously tugged on the hem of her sky blue dress, which was oddly formal considering her usual wardrobe choices. Her bright pink hair softly curled around her face, and she glanced at the silver watch on her wrist for the fifth time that evening. She frowned, and leaned against the window of the fancy restaurant she was standing outside of. A few seconds later, a blur of black and white flashed in front of her, and suddenly she found her arms full of roses. Her boyfriend stood beside her, dressed in a suit and tie.

She narrowed her eyes, "The fastest boy alive is late." He chuckled, and attempted to lay on the charm, "You look absolutely gorgeous, I mean, that blue really makes your eyes pop." Jinx's voice took on a warning tone, "Wally-" In an instant, the pink-haired girl found herself inside the restaurant, sitting in a very comfortable chair across from Kid Flash. She tried to stop the goofy smile from forming on her face, but was rather unsuccessful.

The redhead smiled at his girlfriend, "I had to throw some goons in jail on the way here. I ordered our food in advance, cause I figured something might happen." Jinx relaxed into her chair, closing her eyes as she enjoyed the calming environment. She didn't flinch when the waiter placed her drink before her, and sighed in contentment. She did, however, open her eyes when the food arrived. She gasped as she looked upon the layout in front of her. Wally smiled nervously, "I got us sparkling grape juice, since we can't really have wine yet..." She beamed at him, "It's perfect!"

Wally began to eat at a blinding speed, while Jinx ate at a polite human pace. She shook her head at him, deciding that his crazy metabolism was only a minor annoyance most of the time. By the time Jinx had finished her appetizer, he had already started on dessert. He paused, deciding that he should probably talk to his date, "So... How was your day?"

She finished the food she had in her mouth before responding, "Still hungry. Talk about yours." He laughed before launching into a theatrical story about how he captured the crooks who had made him late for their reservation. This allowed Jinx plenty of time to finish her main course. She was about to start on her cheesecake, when both of their T-communicators went off.

Jinx's smile was instantly replaced by a pout, "And I was having so much fun." Wally shrugged sadly, "It's part of the job description."

* * *

**A/N: And now you have a basic idea of what's going on. It gets much more complicated from here. I'm thinking Monday updates, but you can let me know if you think another day is better. :)**

**I have been on hiatus for the last four years, so I am very rusty! Please be brutal with the reviews.**

**Later Days!**

**~Rosallind**


	3. The Old Man and the Sea

**Chapter 3: The Old Man and the Sea**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.**

* * *

Kyd Wykkyd sat a few blocks away from the armored warehouse that the package was currently in transit to. According to Gizmo, Psimon had spared no expense this time, and opted for security rather than secrecy. Instead of an inconspicuous mail carrier, the package was being delivered by armored car. See-More reported via com-link that there were two armored cars heading in the direction of the warehouse, probably to throw them off.

He attempted to peer through the top of the trucks with his x-ray vision, but they were lined with lead. He reported this finding to his team, "X-ray vision's a no-go. We're gonna have to just take them both." Gizmo growled through the link, "Crud! Kyd Wykkyd, stand by. Billy, take the one on Laurel Street. Mammoth, take the one on Main. When you get it under control, radio Wykkyd. See-More, stay in the air and watch their backs. I'll take out their security systems from here." The teens moved to their positions, and awaited the signal of their leader. Gizmo continued speaking as he accessed the systems remotely, "And the security is... down. Take 'em!"

Billy and Mammoth attacked without warning. Mammoth smashed his fist into the front of the car, which crumpled under the force. Billy Numerous attacked in droves, turning the truck on its side. Suddenly, fifteen armed guards poured out of the truck, while only three emerged from the truck Mammoth was assailing. See-More relayed the information to Gizmo, who discounted it as something meant to confuse them. They quickly subdued the guards, and See-More spoke through the link, "Kyd, go!"

With the grace of a cat, Kyd Wykkyd teleported to the back of the first truck, dodging laser fire from the two remaining guards before Mammoth knocked them out. He lifted his cape up to the lock and reached his hand through it, grabbing and ripping out the entire lock. He pulled the doors open quickly, ran inside, and grabbed a single package.

He pulled the package open, revealing the piece they needed to intercept. He smiled, and turned to show it to Mammoth. The gigantic teen was nowhere to be seen. Kyd Wykkyd frowned, and See-More's frantic voice boomed through his com-link, "Kyd, get outta there!" He quickly reached for his cape, when he realized that he no longer held the very important package in his hand. A familiar voice sliced through the silence, "Run into a little...bad luck, Wykkyd?"

He turned around to face the speaker, and was shocked at what he saw. Jinx stood outside of the truck, her hands on her hips, and a condescending expression on her face. His former teammate's presence was much less surprising than her appearance. Her fancy attire was unlike anything he had ever seen her wear, and Kid Flash appeared by her side, already dressed in his super-suit. He tossed the package up and down in his hand, as if it were a mere tennis ball.

Kyd Wykkyd glowered at them both, and Jinx began walking forward with an arrogant spring in her step, "What are you guys doing here? I thought you were back in Jump." Upon realizing that the pink-haired sorceress seemed to actually expect an answer, Wally's eyes grew big, "But Jinx, he doesn't talk, does he?" She put a hand up to silence him, and addressed only her former teammate, "Well? Billy's already being carted off to jail, and Mammoth will be on his way soon. Care to let me in on why you guys have been stealing packages, of all things?"

Suddenly, Kyd Wykkyd was almost nose to nose with Jinx. She didn't flinch; her only reaction was to narrow her eyes. His telepathic voice sliced through her mind with a sound akin to microphone feedback, "Put that piece somewhere safe. Things are not as they appear." She blinked, and he was gone.

Wally rubbed the back of his head, "What just happened?" Jinx turned to face him, "That package is evidence. It's definitely connected to the other truck robberies in Jump City." Kid Flash nodded, "I'll put it in the vault for tonight. I think we owe Robin a visit."

The Hive Five sat around their kitchen table, while Gizmo worked on deactivating the power canceling collar that had been placed on Billy Numerous during his brief tenure in a prison transport truck. He had already neutralized and removed Mammoth's, and muttered under his breath the whole while. Kyd Wykkyd sat as far away as possible from the boy genius, as everyone but See-More blamed him for letting the piece get away.

It was very true that he could have snatched it, but then it would have been more difficult to rescue his other teammates, and See-More recognized this. He spoke softly, but in the quiet room it seemed that he was yelling, "Well, we can still get the last piece, right?"

Gizmo nodded, "Those two are the most important parts. If sludge-for-brains doesn't get them, he can't go through with his plans." The African-American boy smiled reassuringly, "We'll just do a really good job next time!" See-More's smile seemed to be contagious, and the rest of the attitudes in the kitchen brightened up considerably. It was always nice to have an optimist around.

–

Jinx and Kid Flash approached the gigantic door of Titans Tower. She always thought it was a little overkill, but said nothing in an effort to spare Cyborg's feelings. The redhead removed his glove and scanned his hand, after which, Jinx did the same. They entered silently, as this was not a social visit. When they entered the Common Room, the original Teen Titans were lounging about and engaging in their regular activities.

Raven was reading a book, Beast Boy and Cyborg were exchanging witty banter whilst playing video games, Starfire was feeding Silky, and Robin sat at the table with a mug of coffee, reading a newspaper.

Kid Flash sped over to sit beside Robin, giving a rather unnecessary announcement of their presence. Robin immediately put his paper down, and called out to the others, "Titans, we have company!" His teammates immediately dropped what they were doing, and reported to the table. They each took their seats without a word.

Robin broke the silence, and addressed the two honorary Titans, "You said you had a run-in with the Hive Five." They nodded, and he continued, "You apprehended the package they were after. Can we see it?" Wally shot out the door, retrieved the package, and came back. He opened it up and placed the odd looking ceramic piece on the table. Robin gingerly picked it up and began to inspect it, handing it to Cyborg when he finished. The metal man proceeded to scan it before announcing his conclusion, "Looks like some weird art. Nothing really valuable, either. It's only a medium grade ceramic sculpture."

Jinx shook her head, "No, it was too important to them. It has to be _something._ ...Things are not as they appear..." The pink-haired girl pulled a folded piece of paper from the pocket of her black dress, and placed it on the table, quickly explaining it to the team, "Before he took off, Kyd Wykkyd spoke to me telepathically. I wrote down what he said because it's important. It sounded like a warning."

Robin read it aloud, "Put that piece somewhere safe. Things are not as they appear." "Sounds pretty vague, Jinx. You sure he wasn't just trying to confuse you?", Cyborg interjected. Her brow furrowed in frustration, "He doesn't say anything unless it's something very important!" Robin raised a hand to calm the girl, "It was only a theory."

Raven suddenly spoke up for the first time in the conversation, "Assuming you are correct, nothing he says is without meaning. So we should be looking for one." Jinx nodded, and eyed the paper with an expression of utmost concentration. Her catlike eyes suddenly lit up, and she snatched a red pen off of the table, circling the first sentence, "This sentence is different from the next. And the wording is strange. Why call it a piece?" Beast Boy rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Maybe it's like a piece to a puzzle."

Cyborg leaped from his chair, snatching the ceramic sculpture up off of the table, "THAT'S IT! It's a piece to some kind of machine, disguised as a sculpture. BB, you're a genius!" The green teen rubbed the back of his head and chuckled nervously, and Raven fought the urge to wipe the smile off of his face by insulting his intelligence. Robin pinched the bridge of his nose between his forefingers and spoke softly, "But who is it that's trying to put together a machine made of ceramic parts?"

Raven's eyes widened, and she pointed to the first sentence, "P and S are recurring letters. Robin, search the villain database for something with the letters Ps!" Robin darted over to the computer, pulling up their villain database. He searched for 'ps', and yielded only one result that had both letters consecutively and in the right order. He announced his findings, "Only complete match I found was a telepath named Psimon. He was one of the villains we froze with the Brotherhood of Evil."

Jinx's eyes narrowed as she realized who they were talking about, and her voice came out in something of a hiss, "Psimon?" Kid Flash cocked an eyebrow at her, "You know that guy?" She shook her head quickly, her reply just as fast, "No, but I know _of_ him. He's sadistic, power-hungry, and very arrogant. Unfortunately, he has a right to be cocky. He's one of the best telepaths in the world, and can take over the mind of almost anyone in close range. He uses people's greatest fears against them."

Cyborg frowned at her, and spoke in an uncharacteristically quiet voice, "So you think _that's_ who they were stealing those parts for?" Jinx shrugged, "Maybe. Maybe not. I think we should still find out what this guy is up to." Starfire frowned, "Friend Jinx, do you have the means of 'the finding out'?" She shook her head sadly, "No, all my connections are gone since I became a Titan. No one trusts me anymore." Robin's eyes narrowed beneath his mask, "I figured as much." He stood, and abruptly walked in the direction of his room. In about five minutes, he returned with a suitcase in hand. Beast Boy's green eyes widened, "Dude, where are you going?"

"Away. I'll be back in about three days.", Robin replied cryptically. Raven rose, an oddly calm expression on her uncovered face. "What are you going to do, Robin? We have a right to know", she asserted in her monotone. He sighed and answered reluctantly, "I'm going to find out more about Psimon. We don't have the resources here." Cyborg shook his head, and responded incredulously, "Well who does, man?" Robin's eyes narrowed, and he responded in a gruff voice,

"Batman."

* * *

Kyd Wykkyd lay the wrong way on his bed, allowing his unmasked head to hang off the end. His ruby red eyes stared at the upside down world of his bedroom, and his black hair hung down. He sighed soundlessly, and wondered if he had made the wrong choice by dropping clues for Jinx. He also wondered if he'd been a little too cryptic; perhaps she hadn't understood at all, and had unknowingly returned the package to the intended recipient. In that case, Psimon now had one of the most important pieces of all, and it was all Elliot's fault.

He frowned involuntarily, and rubbed his bare hands across his face. Jinx was always a very smart girl, and it was more probable that she had indeed understood his warning. The next truck was scheduled to arrive right outside of Jump in a few days. Three, to be more exact. Kyd Wykkyd decided to go for a walk, and quickly changed into a black t-shirt and jeans. He slipped his abused skater shoes on, and glanced into the mirror.

He snapped his fingers as he finally remembered what he had forgotten. He reached into his dresser drawer and retrieved a pair of fancy sunglasses he had stolen from some civilian, before he spun himself around in order to teleport to an alley in the city. So much spinning in battle would affect his hand-eye coordination, which was why his specialized cape came in handy, but he could teleport without it.

Elliot walked out and into his favorite coffee shop, making sure his sunglasses were properly disguising his bright red eyes. It was not very well-known around town, but he enjoyed it all the more because of the calm nature of most of the customers. He walked up to the counter and waited for the attendant to come. The familiar brunette named Julie peeked out from the kitchen.

She was only five feet tall and wore nothing but floral dresses with platform Mary-Jane shoes. She smiled pleasantly before disappearing once more. When she emerged, she carried a pen and a pad of paper in her hand, and addressed him cheerfully, "Hi Elliot! What'll it be today?" She held out the pen and paper, which he took gingerly. He always admired the scrolling sleeve tattoo that decorated her right arm, and did his best not to stare at it. 'Lunch.', he wrote in a spindly scrawl. She giggled good-naturedly, and shook her head at him, "What do you want for lunch, then?"

He smirked at her, and wrote again, 'Soup and half a roast turkey sandwich.' "We have veggie soup today, and you want provolone on that sandwich, right?", the pretty barista asked without really needing an answer. Elliot figured that Julie knew what he liked by now, but nodded at her anyway. "Take a seat, and we'll have it out in few minutes!", she called behind her as she walked back into the kitchen.

The dark haired boy took his regular seat near the back of the cafe, and pulled a book from his pants pocket. He had been reading for about fifteen minutes, when movement at the front of the restaurant caught his attention. He looked up in time to see a member of the Teen Titans enter the cafe. It was Raven, another regular customer.

He vaguely remembered that, while she did usually come here in the evening rather than at lunchtime, this was a common occurrence and nothing to worry about. Her expression seemed strained, and she forced what he assumed was intended to be a friendly expression when Julie approached and asked what she would like to have. He quickly lost interest in the sorceress, and turned his attention back to his book.

He became immersed in the story; it was almost as if he could smell the salt of the sea and hear the beating of the waves against the boat. The words seemed to rise off the page and feed his senses. Suddenly, an abrasive voice invaded his reading experience, "What are you reading?" Irritation colored his expression as his eyes lazily drifted up in search of the speaker.

They landed on the purple-haired demoness, who was sitting at the table across from his, staring at him intensely. He lifted the book, allowing her to view its cover, and after what he deemed a satisfactory amount of time, placed it back on the table. Raven smiled infinitesimally, "Hemingway certainly has a way with words, doesn't he?" Elliot simply proceeded to glare at her, which she noticed. "You seemed to be enjoying yourself. I was simply curious as to what you were reading."

His glare softened a bit, and he shrugged, hoping she wouldn't ask any more questions. She pulled out her own book, which was leather-bound and rather large, and began reading. Elliot waited a few more minutes to be sure she was done talking, which was a good thing because Julie arrived carrying his bowl of soup and a plate with his sandwich. She smiled cordially as she sat them down on the table, and Elliot retrieved his wallet. Before he could open it, though, Julie placed her hand on his. "It's on the house," she asserted, "Mom says it's the least she can do, since you fixed our sink last week!"

He paused, and then decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. He noticed that she had still not removed her hand from his, and lifted an eyebrow at her. She looked confused for a second, and then quickly jerked her hand away from his, blushing furiously. "Oops! Forgot about the tea kettle!", she exclaimed a little too loudly before she scurried away to the kitchen. She returned shortly with a mug of steeping chamomile tea, and placed it on the table in front of Raven, apologized for the long wait, and rushed back to the kitchen after receiving payment.

Raven lifted an eyebrow, and glanced over to Elliot, who was scarfing down his sandwich already. "Someone has a crush on you," she stated with a devilish smirk. The pale boy paused mid-bite, mulling it over. He hadn't realized that Julie liked him, but now it was glaringly obvious. His expression was stamped with embarrassment at having been so oblivious. Raven snickered, clearly taking delight in the boy's discomfort.

Was it possible that she was even more annoying when she wasn't trying to throw him in jail? Elliot quickly snapped another glare into place, and leisurely looked down at his book. When he peeked up, Raven had also resumed reading her own book. He rolled his eyes, apparently he had legitimate reason to have never liked her. He didn't look up when he heard her T-communicator go off, and continued reading as she ran out the door. Quiet, just the way he liked it.

Robin felt a wrenching discomfort in his gut, which he explained away as a reaction to Starfire's alien cuisine. He had taken the ship off of autopilot, mostly because piloting the T-jet gave him something to take his mind off of the person he was en route to visit. Billionaire Bruce Wayne, though philanthropic, was an imposing figure. His alter-ego struck fear into the heart of evildoers everywhere; human and metahuman alike.

He had a similar effect on the Boy Wonder; mostly because he had not left the Batcave on good terms. They had since made up and resumed communication, but it didn't make returning any less awkward.

He could only hope that Batgirl would be there to help alleviate the tension. As he neared Gotham City limits, he reluctantly pushed the call button that would connect him to the Batcave computer. To his immediate relief, Barbara Gordon appeared on the panel, a mildly surprised expression on her face as she exclaimed, "Robin! What-" The teen interrupted her brusquely, "I'm coming in for a landing, could you open the door, Babs?" She smiled at him joyfully, "Sure thing!" She pushed a button on the console that caused the Titanium based trapdoor in the middle of the abandoned theater district to open.

Robin hovered the T-jet into the hole in the ground. The door closed, and he drove the jet on the floor of the tunnel for about ten minutes, until he reached the garage. He stored the jet there, and then walked through the entrance of the Batcave. Everything was just as he remembered, though the purple costume he remembered Batgirl wearing was now stored in a glass case.

Barbara approached him, garbed in her new black and yellow suit. Robin raised an eyebrow, "I like the new Batgirl costume." She smirked at him, "Yeah, much more stealthy than the other one. I see you haven't changed much." He chuckled a bit, "Don't fix what's not broken."

"Well, _this_ is different," The redhead reached up to muss his hair, and he immediately dodged the hand. "Don't mess with the hair." Another, deeper laugh filled the room, revealing the presence of yet another person. "Nice to see you again, Richard. To what do I owe this visit?" Robin stiffened at the sound of the familiar voice, and stood up as straight as possible, "I need to do some research, Bruce."

* * *

The Hive Five had not trained together since Jinx left, but now Gizmo had taken over her role and had them all running simulations and obstacle courses. They were quite rusty with their in-battle teamwork, which led to many cuts and laser burns in the afternoons. On the most recent instance, Billy had multiplied too many times, and had crowded up the battlefield.

Due to the overcrowding, Mammoth couldn't move without hitting a Billy, and See-More failed miserably at shooting between them to take out the laser cannons. Kyd Wykkyd had taken to jumping from one Billy's head to another's, all of which served to enrage the southern teen to no end. Suddenly, the Billys all attacked the rest of the team, which ended in a very painful failure. Had the lasers been on full power, they all would have been cut to ribbons.

Kyd Wykkyd sat with his back against the wall, nursing his many nicks and burns. He had a particularly painful injury on his upper left arm, which he preferred to poke repeatedly instead of bandaging it. He knew that he'd have to clean it eventually, but was too tired to do it right that moment. Gizmo made a noise that expressed his displeasure, and then yelled, "That was crud! You're supposed to take out the lasers, not each other!" Billy lay on the ground, his breathing heavy, "That's easy for you to say. You ain't the one who kept getting stepped on!"

Mammoth grunted, "You wouldn't get stepped on if you'd watch where you're going!" See-More sighed angrily, and then joined in, hoping to end the argument once and for all, "There were just too many of you, Billy. You were bound to get stepped on eventually." Billy sat up and glared at the cyclops, "So because there was a lot of me, y'all have the right to shoot at me?" See-More's eye grew wide as he realized that he'd only made matters worse, "N-no, that's not what I meant at all! I meant-"

The boy continued to blunder on, and Kyd Wykkyd threw his head back in a bout of soundless laughter, mocking his friend's misfortune. Maybe today wasn't so bad after all.

Deep underground, a man paced back and forth in his expertly hidden underground lair. He trembled with rage as he stared at the list of shipments that had never reached their destination. Psimon suspected that the Hive 5 were behind it, and he despised the fact that such an infantile band of brats were able to cause him such grief. The first few robberies were amusing at least, but now they were getting truly annoying. His master plan was far from being thwarted, but he needed those last pieces.

The armored cars and guards had been unsuccessful at stopping the children from taking his latest shipment. He wondered what had caused such a horrid string of failures. There had to be some sort of flaw in his plans. He rubbed his temples as he paced back and forth, trying to figure out the perfect way to ensure that his last shipment would arrive. Suddenly, he paused, and a malicious sneer spread across his face, "If you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself."

–

Kyd Wykkyd smiled as he placed the last cushion on top of his glorious pillow fort. He inwardly claimed ownership, since most of his teammates weren't skilled enough to build a sturdy one without his help. It was one of the more childish things that he prided himself in, but he reasoned that there are some things you should never outgrow. Billy Numerous climbed in, and sat on the cushionless couch in the middle. He flipped on the TV, which was also inside the massive fort, and turned the channel to the football game.

Mammoth and See-More joined them inside, and Kyd Wykkyd followed behind them, perching himself on the arm of the couch. Mammoth began to cheer for the team he liked, while Billy booed. Wykkyd didn't care much for football, but enjoyed watching his teammates berate each other over such a pointless sport. He chuckled silently as Billy and Mammoth began to trash-talk each other. Gizmo entered the room, and upon seeing the gigantic pillow fort, he began to pout, "You guys didn't tell me the game was on!" He darted into the fort and planted himself on the other side of the couch.

The boy genius pouted for a few more minutes, and then couldn't resist a chance to call his teammates names. See-More tried to be neutral, but it became difficult when Gizmo began calling him names even though he hadn't picked a side. He started to reprimand the boy genius for his childish behavior, when he took a deep breath and apologized instead. This was all in an effort to calm things down, but Kyd Wykkyd was having none of that.

He scrawled a message on his notepad and handed it to Billy Numerous, who read it aloud, "That's not even real football? What do ya mean 'real' football? Of course it's real!" Wykkyd shook his head, smiling mischievously as he wrote again and handed it back to the Texan, "Soccer is real football." Soon his teammates began yelling at him and each other about whether American football was real football.

The cowled teen grinned at the pandemonium that his comment had created.

–

Raven viciously kicked the punching bag once more before toweling the sweat from her face. The salty fluid had already dripped into her eyes, which now stung something fierce. She took a swig from her water bottle, then allowed herself to collapse onto her back on the ground. Muscles that she rarely even knew she had seemed to be sighing in relief. She huffed as the cool air conditioned breeze washed over the training room as if right on cue. The sorceress heard someone approaching, and determined who it was based on the weight of their footsteps.

"What's wrong, Raven?", a disembodied voice inquired. Her eyes remained closed, her face impassive, "What makes you think there's something wrong?" She heard a light chuckle, and presumed the the speaker had crouched down beside her, "You don't 'do' recreational exercise." She smirked, "So something actually _does_ get through that thick skull of yours." This elicited a full-blown laugh from her companion, "Only the really important stuff." She opened her eyes, which landed on the smiling face of her green teammate.

He spoke again, all joking absent from his tone, "So really, Rae. What's bugging you?" She huffed and raised her head off the floor, feigning frustration, "Don't call me that." He simply motioned for her to go on. She lowered her head back to the ground, her violet hair splayed out around her haphazardly. An oddly comfortable silence endured for about five minutes, when the sorceress finally decided to voice her concerns, "It's... odd. Being without a leader. I feel so-" She fumbled for words, still not one to speak her inner thoughts, "- vulnerable."

Beast Boy waited, making sure she wasn't going to add anything, and then spoke quietly, "Well, Robin's coming back. Probably tomorrow." He watched her face, which twisted into a frown. "That's not all, is it?" She shook her head, and remained silent. The green boy wrapped his arms around his knees, and paused thoughtfully before he spoke, "I get it. It reminds me of when we got our butts kicked by the H.I.V.E., and we thought Robin was... you know. It's like, without him here, I don't know what to do with myself. What would have happened if he hadn't come back and helped us take back the Tower?"

Raven spoke softly, "We were going to give up. We wouldn't be the Titans anymore..." Her voice died down to a level no normal human should have been able to hear, "And I'd be alone." Beast Boy realized that Raven hadn't meant him to hear the last part, and decided to pretend he didn't.

He gave her a reassuring smile, "But that's over now, and we're still the Titans. Through thick and thin. We've been through stuff most people only dream about, and we've done it together! No sense moping about stuff that coulda happened." Raven's frown deepened, "But what if Robin left us one day. For good." Beast Boy's brow furrowed, "Why would he do something like that?"

Raven sighed, "One day, Batman is going to have to pass the mantle to someone... It could happen." Beast Boy laughed softly, "Starfire's 'rekmas', or whatever?" Raven sat up stiffly, and snapped back, "It's not a joke!" Her angry gaze softened when she realized that she had been unnecessarily rude, and she continued in a more gentle tone, "What do you think would happen if Robin left?"

Beast Boy rubbed his arm as he stared at the wall pensively, "I-I don't know. I can't say for sure we'd be a team still, but I know for a fact that we'd still be friends. I won't let you think you're alone ever again." He locked eyes with Raven, whose violet orbs stung with unshed tears. The green teen smiled reassuringly, and then began to rub the back of his neck awkwardly, "Uh, that isn't happening anytime soon, so do we have to think about depressing stuff right now?"

The violet haired sorceress gave him a small smile and shook her head, "No, we don't." She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him in a gentle hug. He stiffened at first, but relaxed into it soon enough, rubbing her back soothingly.

"Beast Boy?"

"Yes?"

"This never happened."

"Got it."

–

Kyd Wykkyd sat on his bed, still in full costume. It was somewhere around 4:00 in the morning, and he was wide awake despite needing all the sleep he could get. They had a briefing in only a few hours, and though Gizmo's last few plans had been flawless, he couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. He was by no means clairvoyant, but the thought of their next heist made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. This was supposed to be simple, he reasoned.

He tried to calm himself, but couldn't seem to get back to sleep. His brain didn't seem to have an off switch, so he decided to go for another walk. Something about the cool night air always seemed to help the stress melt away, if only for a little while.

Kyd Wykkyd didn't bother to change into civilian clothes, as most people wouldn't be awake at such an hour. The boy wandered aimlessly through the silent city, the only interruption of the peace was the occasional passing car.

Eventually, he found himself in the middle of the park, listening to the crickets chirp. Wykkyd closed his eyes, as a cool breeze caressed his face. Though he kept it to himself, there were times when he wondered what he was doing; when he doubted whether his past actions were right.

Times when the person he had become frightened him. This was bordering on being one of those times. It seemed that being dressed in his bulletproof uniform at odd hours of the morning could do that to him.

The teen's eyes snapped open, and he glared into the darkness of the trees before him. He was Kyd Wykkyd, and no amount of 'what if's' could change that. The world had done him a major injustice, and he was just paying it back for all the suffering he had been put through.

He released what should have been a piercing battle cry, and felled a tree in one foul swoop. He rarely begrudged his lack of a voice, but that night he wished with all his might that he could scream into a pillow just like everyone else.

* * *

**A/N: So I decided to use the name Elliot because it seems to be what the fandom has named him.**

**Yes, I brought Batman in, because why not? I'm going with the versions of the characters from the cartoon "The Batman".**

**Also, I've put up character designs for Kyd Wykkyd (unmasked) and Julie (the cafe girl) on the tumblr I created for this story: thatwykkydkid (I'll put a link on my profile).**

**Questions? Comments?**

**Leave me a review or ask on tumblr. :)**

**Or both. Both is good.**


	4. The Beginning of the End

**A/N: I was going to wait until Monday to update a really long chapter, but I decided to do a**** piece of it today because The Legend of Korra is ending tomorrow and I'm feeling conflicted. I'm excited for it, but I don't want it to end. :'( Feel free to PM me if you'd like to talk about that.**

**WARNING: This is a short update, but the next one will be considerably longer.**

* * *

Chapter 4: The Beginning of the End

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans

* * *

Robin hugged his childhood best friend tightly before he took a step toward the T-jet. Barbara sniffled a bit, "Wish you'd have been able to stay longer, Dick." He sighed sadly, and fumbled for words, "I know, but-" She interrupted him, "Yeah, yeah. Dangerous criminal scheming in your city." She paused, and then seemed to remember something important, "Wait, shouldn't you say bye to Bruce too?"

Robin chuckled softly, "He was sleeping. How often does _that_ happen?" The chipper red-head smiled at him, as no one could argue that Batman sleeping was a rare occurrence. Robin was about to board the ship, when suddenly the Batwave sounded.

Both teens froze, and ran straight to the computer out of habit. The caped crusader was miraculously already seated before the gigantic flatscreen, pulling up the information on whatever crime was being committed at five o' clock in the morning. Bruce quickly pulled down his cowl over his face, then stood and turned to Robin, "What do you say, Robin? For old time's sake?"

A broad smile crossed the Boy Wonder's face, as the familiar adrenaline kicked in, "What are we waiting for?" Batgirl squealed with glee and dragged Robin into the garage, yanking a cover off of a sleek black motorcycle.

"You can use the Batcycle!", she exclaimed, before she hopped onto her own feminine version and sped off. "Last one to the docks is a rotten egg!", she called behind her. Batman darted past him, leaped into the driver's seat of the Batmobile, and gave Robin a look that could only mean a challenge before he closed the hatch and revved the engine. The Boy Wonder narrowed his eyes beneath his mask, "Oh, you are _so_ on!"

With a running jump, he gracefully landed on the seat of the motorcycle and shot out through the tunnel, side by side with the sleek black car.

–

Kyd Wykkyd teleported into the Common Room of the Hive hideout, and took a seat on the couch. He began channel surfing, not really wanting to watch anything, but desiring to keep his mind busy instead. He watched the television in a daze, and it seemed that only a few minutes later, someone was shaking his shoulder. He groggily opened his eyes, and looked up to see See-More standing over him.

"Kyd, wake up! It's time for the briefing!" The purple garbed teen frowned, and rose awkwardly, he moved his shoulders around to work out a crick in his neck. He hadn't meant to sleep all the way until briefing time, but if he was being honest with himself, it was a wonder he had slept at all.

He walked over to the table, and yawned as he took his seat. He could really go for a cup of coffee right about now. Too bad he hadn't awakened in time to stop by the cafe beforehand. Gizmo's projector came to life, and he began to speak, "This is either gonna be super easy, or super hard, so listen up! This is the most heavily guarded shipment yet. He's onto us, and he's gonna do everything he can to make sure we don't get it. That means it's coming in a helicopter, which will be surrounded by armed guards at the landing pad."

The boy genius pulled up a map of the helicopter's route, grinning arrogantly as he pointed to the middle of the route, "In order to fight the least amount of guards, we'll take it in the air. They won't even know what hit 'em, _if_ we do this right." Each teen looked to their teammates, before nodding in unison. Gizmo continued, "This operation calls for stealth, skill, and spotless teamwork. So don't screw this up!"

Kyd Wykkyd smirked grimly, apparently he had a good reason to be nervous.

Screwing up seemed to be his team's specialty.

–

See-More stood lookout on the roof of one of the taller buildings, watching the sky with a businesslike expression on his face. Suddenly, a speck came into view somewhere in the distance, and he pushed the button on the com-link that would allow him to speak with Gizmo, "Little birdie's coming your way." "Roger that.", the boy replied.

Within the span of a few seconds, the diminutive leader had disabled the helicopter's communications, and barked an order, "Wykkyd, take 'em in for a landing." Kyd Wykkyd appeared at the back of the aircraft, where the engine was located, digging his clawed gloves into the metal in order to stay airborne. He quickly reached through the metal, grabbed the piece of the engine Gizmo had instructed him to take, and then kicked off of the the helicopter.

The cloaked teen teleported mid-fall, and appeared by See-More's side, brandishing the stolen part proudly. They observed impassively as the aircraft shuddered and began to veer left and right. the pilot was panicking, no doubt, and began to go in for a landing on the top of the Wayne Industries building, which had an ample amount of space.

The copter landed jarringly on the roof of the building, and Kyd Wykkyd shortly teleported Mammoth and Billy Numerous to the scene. Billy surrounded the machine, as Gizmo arrived via jetpack. See-More suddenly shouted through the com-link, "Guys...ugh... we have a … grr … problem!"

Gizmo yelled back, "What do you mean, a _problem_!?" An authoritative voice sounded behind them, "Looks like you hit the end of your winning streak!" All of the H.I.V.E. members turned around to face the intruder, and their faces immediately fell. "Titans, go!"

Four of the infamous Teen Titans charged forward. Cyborg assailed Mammoth, while Starfire attacked Kyd Wykkyd, and Robin and Raven did battle with the dozens of Billy clones. After a few minutes of scuffling, Gizmo yelled angrily, "Crud-munchin' idiots! Mammoth, hurry it up!"

The gigantic teen smiled menacingly, "With pleasure." He suddenly brought his knee to Cyborg's chin, and then smashed his head into the ground. He darted over to the door of the helicopter, dodging starbolts and birdarangs, and then heaved the metal door open.

Mammoth's smile faded almost instantly, as he took several steps backward before collapsing on his back on the ground, cradling his head in his hands. All of the teens froze, eyes fixed on the fallen behemoth. Raven's eyes went wide as a mental screech took her off-guard, and she threw up a barrier in her mind to stop it in its tracks.

She looked around and realized that both the Titans and the H.I.V.E. members had dropped to their knees, clutching their heads, with the exception of herself and Kyd Wykkyd. All present trained their eyes on the doorway of the helicopter, from which a tall imposing figure emerged.

"Hello children. Some of you have been quite naughty lately." Robin lunged forward, slinging an exploding disk in the direction of the speaker. The explosion never met its mark, however, as it came in contact with a thick force field. "Tsk, Tsk. Psimon says, freeze."

Wykkyd and Raven stared incredulously as their teammates all became still as statues. The man's fluorescent purple eyes landed on the remaining teens, and a sneer stretched across his face, "As for you two..."

Raven let loose an angry snarl, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Dark tendrils of energy sprung from the ground like weeds, rushing toward the telepath at a blinding speed. He flicked them away as if brushing dust from his shoulder, and dodged kick after kick from Kyd Wykkyd, who had appeared behind him shortly after Raven's failed efforts.

Psimon yawned, and suddenly pinned the boy against the side of the helicopter. He fastened what Raven recognized as a power-canceling collar around Kyd Wykkyd's neck before he threw him to the ground.

The sorceress could see that this was going badly, and made to open up a portal to transport her teammates and herself to safety, but the telepath sent another mental attack screeching through her mind, which disrupted her concentration.

She couldn't seem to remember how to put up a wall, and clutched the sides of her head in desperation. She could only watch as Psimon threw Kyd Wykkyd through a portal of his own making. He walked toward her with another collar in hand, as if he were greeting an old friend.

"And I could never forget about you."

She could barely think straight as he lifted her up by her shirt. She raised a hand in a futile effort to stop him, and she heard the click as the power-canceling device fastened around her neck.

"This time, stay gone!"

She felt the shame of failure wash over her as she, too, fell through Psimon's mysterious portal.

* * *

**A/N: Dun. dun. dun!**

**I haven't used my awful cliffhangers on you guys yet. Never fear! The next update should come in at least four days, depending on if how much time I have for editing/proofreading. Remember I told you that the story is completely written already? That should make you feel more confident in my abilities to update frequently.**

**The wheels are finally turning, and this isn't even really the climax. Mwahahahaha!**

**Review and let me know what you think. :)**

**~Rose**


	5. Dawn

Chapter 5: Dawn

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

Kyd Wykkyd blearily stirred, shifting in his place on the ground. His first thought was that he was extremely uncomfortable, almost as if he had fallen asleep on a bed of rocks.

He groggily opened his eyes, and realized that he actually _was_ lying on a rocky surface. A rocky surface in the middle of some sort of jungle. The cowled teen inwardly groaned as he sat up too quickly, and the leafy green world seemed to swim around him.

He got to his feet, and started surveying his environment. The place was unlike anything he had ever seen before. The vines that wrapped around the trunks of what he assumed were trees grew neon flowers that seemed to glow.

Wykkyd belatedly realized that dusk was settling upon the land, and despite the tropical appearance of the environment, the breeze carried a chill that told him it would be a cold night. The teen looked up at the sky, and a quick double take confirmed that there were indeed two moons.

This validated his suspicions that this place was not Earth.

Recalling his wilderness training from the H.I.V.E, Kyd Wykkyd realized that he should find some sort of shelter before night fell. The most common hunting time of animals that could eat humans was right after dusk.

A guttural growl from behind alerted the teen to the fact that it was far too late to avoid animals of the man-eating variety. He whirled his cape around himself, intending to teleport before the creature could pounce on him, but was shoved to the ground instead, sharp claws digging into his back and shoulders. He wanted to scream in frustration as he remembered Psimon's power-canceling collar.

He heard the snarling of the creature on top of him, but couldn't see it, since his face was smashed into the rocks. Judging by the weight of the thing on his back, it was very large. Since it was much too heavy to throw off, all he could do was wait.

When he could feel its hot breath on his neck, he threw his head backward, and caught the monster's sensitive nose. It howled in pain and reeled backward, ripping its claws from his shoulders along the way. Wykkyd ignored the pain, rolled to his feet, and took off in a sprint, ducking under vines and leaping over low branches.

He needed to put enough distance between himself and his pursuer. He tried to jar his memory, and recall what he should do in such a situation. He was at a major disadvantage without his powers, as teleportation was his edge in battle. He spotted a river, and sighed with relief.

If he could make it across before the creature saw him, the beast should lose his scent. He smiled involuntarily as he thought to himself that Jinx's endurance training had actually come in handy for something.

He could hear the creature's movement far behind, and determined that he should be able to make it across before the thing was able to see him. Kyd Wykkyd dove into the water, and swam faster than he had ever thought possible. He didn't slow down a bit when he reached the other side, and shot off like a rocket into the brush. He climbed a giant tree at a speed that would make a squirrel proud, and sat there trying to calm his breathing, lest the creature hear him.

The monster came into view, sniffing at the ground a few feet away from the other side of the river, and he was finally able to get a good look at it. It was smaller than a bear, but much larger than a dog. Its black fur covered its entire body, and its face was similar to a cross between an ape and a snake. It growled angrily and its beady eyes scanned the brush across the river from it.

Wykkyd held his breath, and when the creature grew tired of searching for its prey, it turned and lumbered back into the trees from whence it came.

Kyd Wykkyd let his breath out, and began panting in exertion after he was sure it was gone. It seemed that he had found his camp for the night. Far up in a tree, where creatures like those hopefully wouldn't find him. The boy shivered, and his stomach growled. For now, he had no blanket, so his cape would have to do. As for food, he would find it in the morning, when he hoped there were fewer beasts that wanted to eat him.

The pale teen curled up on his tree branch, spread his cloak over himself, and drifted into an uneasy sleep.

–

Beast Boy and See-More both stood on the rooftop of Wayne Industries. Beast Boy was rapping his fist on the metal part of Cyborg's head, "Hello? Chrome Dome?" He turned his emerald eyes to See-More, who was using various settings on his eye to assess whether his teammates had taken any perceptible damage.

See-More looked to the green teen, and shook his head, "I just can't figure out what's wrong with 'em. They're not frozen, tranquilized, or petrified. It's like they're just being really still."

Beast Boy had a worried expression on his face, "Where's Raven?" See-More shrugged, "Maybe she and Kyd followed the copter." They heard a grunt, and realized that Robin was the source. He moved stiffly, and looked straight at them, "Gone. Through the portal. Couldn't...stop...him."

The Boy Wonder lunged forward, and stood up, panting as if he'd run a marathon. One by one, the other members rose and expressed their own horror at whatever event had just occurred.

Beast Boy furrowed his brow in annoyance, "Dudes! Just tell me what happened!" Cyborg placed a comforting hand on his best friend's shoulder, which achieved the exact opposite effect, as it signaled to him that something was wrong. "That guy Psimon put power-canceling collars on 'em and pushed them through a portal. I'm sorry, man. I couldn't stop him."

See-More's eye grew wide as he looked to Gizmo for an answer, "This is some kinda joke, right? Those heroes just have a bad sense of humor, right?" Gizmo put his head down, confirming that the cybernetic hero had indeed told the truth. Beast Boy was in shock, and simply stood gaping at Cyborg.

See-More, however, was not in shock. He was angry.

"_You guys left me behind, and my best friend got sent through a wormhole while I was trying to catch up!?_"

Mammoth put his hands up in an effort to calm the boy, "We didn't know that was gonna happen." See-More grimaced, "Well it happened!" Beast Boy finally remembered how to use his mouth, and spoke up, "But she's gonna be okay, right? I mean, it's Raven. She's tough, she'll get through it." Robin nodded, glad to see that his teammate was taking it better than the Hive's member. Starfire nodded in agreement, "Yes, Raven is most formidable. She shall find a way back."

Gizmo snorted, "Without her powers? You guys are stupider than I thought!"

The alien princess and changeling froze in place as what the boy genius said sunk in. Beast Boy's ears drooped sadly and Starfire started to sniffle. Robin shot Gizmo a glare worthy of Raven, and placed a hand on the princess's shoulder, "She's smart, Star. She'll find a way. Even without her powers."

The Tamaranean locked the boy wonder in a bone crushing hug, "I hope you are right." Robin couldn't help but to notice that her vibrant hair carried the scent of strawberries. He always did love strawberries...

Cyborg tapped Robin on the shoulder, "Uh, Rob? The bad guys are getting away." Their leader broke out of the hug instantly, and turned to face the retreating figures of the Hive 5. His eyes narrowed as he shouted angrily, "Titans, stop them!"

––

Raven groaned as she opened her eyes, it was dark and she had no idea where she was. One thing she did know, however, was that she was hanging upside-down, and one of her hands was pinned against her neck.

She told herself to remain calm, and after being sure that she wouldn't fall, she felt with her free hand and realized that she was perched precariously on a tree branch. "Great. Just great.", she muttered under her breath. She used her free hand to hoist herself up into a sitting position on the branch.

Her head pounded as the blood rushed down to her lower extremities, and she looked around, hoping to get her bearings. Raven realized that she had a power-canceling collar around her neck, which had also pinned her left arm against her neck. She was going to pull her hand out, but decided that maybe her current position would help her get the thing off in the morning.

The vegetation around her seemed foreign, but familiar at the same time. She couldn't place it, but she knew it wasn't Earth. Something about the place didn't sit right with her, thus she couldn't sleep all that well, even though she was exhausted.

Raven tried to get her rest in, since she knew that with the morning would come an all new set of problems. She drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

She drifted back into consciousness as something bumped her foot, and she reluctantly opened one eye to look. She saw nothing out of place, and decided she must have dreamed it. She also noticed that the sun was up, and it followed that she should probably get up soon.

The sorceress decided to try to sleep a little longer in the safety of the sunshine, and closed her eye once again. The warmth of the sun was a welcome replacement to the frigid air of the night. She felt something knock her foot again, this time it was definitely not a dream.

An expression of confusion adorned her face as she looked again and saw nothing that would have hit her foot. She sat up, wondering if she were going insane already. She narrowed her eyes and proceeded to watch her foot carefully, hoping to catch whatever it was in the act.

Raven wondered if it were even possible to figure out how to get home without her powers. What if she ended up stuck in that jungle forever? She felt a rougher bump on her foot, and she cursed herself for having not paid attention. Still, she saw nothing.

The purple-haired girl's eyes widened in shock as she suddenly remembered a very important bit of information about the tree in which she sat. She jumped up abruptly, jarring the limb before she realized how much of an error she had made.

"Oh crap."

Suddenly the branches around her sprung to life and lurched toward her. She backed up slowly, trying desperately to remember what her books told her to do in this situation. She froze in place, holding her breath and hoping that she had remembered the proper information. Otherwise, she was setting herself up to be captured by the limbs of the irritated plant.

The tree limbs relaxed, and moved back into their proper positions. She sighed and wiped her brow slowly, not wanting to disturb the plant again. She wracked her still foggy brain, hoping to figure out what place this particular tree was native to. She gasped as realization hit, and murmured aloud, "The Chaos Plane."

In response to her statement, the branch on which she stood unceremoniously dumped her onto the ground a few feet below. She stood up, rubbing her sore bum and grumbling mostly to herself, "Same to you, buddy."

The sorceress began walking, and hoped to find something to eat. She had studied which fruits were edible in the Chaos Zone, but so far she hadn't even found a poisonous one. She decided to try getting the loathsome collar off instead.

With the extra room her trapped hand gave her, she could get the thing about halfway up her face, but it got stuck at her nose. She scoffed her frustration, and gave up. Raven's stomach growled, signifying that it was time to resume her search for food.

–

Elliot was hungry, tired, and aggravated beyond belief. Not only was he not sure what was edible and what wasn't, but even the plants were out to get him. He sliced the branch that flailed toward him with the sharp edges of his cape, and trudged on. He heard a shrill screech coming from the direction of the carnivorous plant which he had just escaped.

He knew it was probably some animal that could possibly eat him, but couldn't help going back to save it. If nothing else, it would make a good meal.

He tiptoed cautiously toward the racket, and flinched as the noises elevated in pitch. Apparently the animal was losing the fight. The fighting creature came into view, and Wykkyd was surprised by what he saw. The thing was about the size of a cat, and looked something like a little red dragon.

The vines had wrapped around its neck and limbs. Only one of its wings was free, and it flapped violently as the plant continued to drag its prey toward the pit of digestive fluid that was its mouth.

Elliot couldn't bear to watch the struggle any longer, and jumped forward to cut the vines away with the sharp edges of his cape. He scooped up the little monster and ran with it, dodging vines from the carnivorous plant. He finally arrived in a clearing and sat with his back leaned up against one of the nicer trees.

The dragon was still tangled up in vines, and Elliot carefully removed the ones that tied its legs together and pinned its left wing down. Last of all, he removed the vine from around its mouth, and leaped back when a jet of fire escaped.

The red lizard-like thing backed away, a snarl in its throat, before it incinerated the pile of vines in front of it. It immediately became calm, and looked over to Elliot, who stared blankly. Suddenly, a feminine mental voice cut through the caped teen's mind, and the dragon bowed its head in a show of gratitude, 'I do not usually speak to other creatures, but you are very kind.' Kyd Wykkyd tilted his head to the side, wishing he could use his telepathic abilities to speak to the strange creature and ask what this place was.

Suddenly, Elliot's stomach growled loudly, and the red dragon flinched before looking at him with a glint in its eye that almost looked like amusement. 'Come,' she said, before she took off. Wykkyd spent a fraction of a second debating whether he should trust the thing, before he scrambled to his feet and followed the creature, barely able to keep up. The flying lizard led him into a grove full of strange looking fruit.

Elliot inspected a particularly odd looking purple eggplant thing, and the dragon's mental voice told him that it was poison. Of course it was, he thought to himself.

He looked toward the reptile, which was sitting in a tree full of orange fruit. She knocked one down toward him with her tail, and he caught it with ease. He eyed it suspiciously, but his stomach growled, and he decided that he'd die eventually regardless of whether the fruit killed him or not.

He took a bite from the thing, which had the texture of a mango and tasted something like a passionfruit. To Kyd Wykkyd, it was the best fruit he had ever eaten. Whether it was so good only because he was starving remained to be seen.

After he finished gorging himself, he sat down on the ground, glad to finally have some time to think. He looked around at the trees that surrounded him, and grew frustrated at the sight of them. It seemed like he should know what this place was, and why it pulled up such negative feelings, but he couldn't seem to retrieve it from his memory.

He paused when his eyes landed on the little red dragon, which was still perched on the branch of the fruit tree. He had assumed it left when he started eating, but it remained staring at him even now.

Elliot wanted to ask it what it wanted, but the loathsome power-canceling collar prevented that. He hadn't realized what a gift his telepathy was until the collar forced him to became a true mute. The dragon seemed to sense his distress, and tilted its head to the side.

He decided it was actually pretty cute for a vicious fire breathing reptile. After giving it some thought, Elliot determined that it was highly unlikely that the thing would understand sign language, but it seemed that charades weren't out of the question.

He put his hands up, and shrugged his shoulders, making a face that should communicate confusion. The dragon tilted its head even more, seemingly more curious than before.

Wykkyd sighed silently, close his eyes, and rubbed his temples, trying to think of some way to ask the red reptile a question. He smiled as he realized how futile an effort that would be. When he opened his eyes, the cat sized dragon was sitting before him, and her mental voice sounded. 'You cannot speak?'

Kyd Wykkyd frowned, and pulled at the collar on his neck. He flinched as the dragon's claws dug into his arm while she climbed up onto his shoulder. The lizard inspected the collar quickly, and then leaped off of him and onto the ground. 'I have seen this before.' His eyes narrowed as he considered that perhaps he was not the first one Psimon had dropped in this godforsaken jungle.

Dusk was beginning to fall on the land, and Elliot had begun to gather wood for a fire. The little dragon sat on his shoulder, surveying their surroundings with a watchful eye. She had still not explained why she hadn't left yet, but Kyd Wykkyd definitely didn't mind having another set of eyes to watch his back.

Once he had gathered what he deemed a satisfactory amount of wood, he headed back to the grove, and piled some of it up in the middle. He began to shiver as he tried to kindle the fire, and the reptile on his shoulder grew impatient. It shot a jet of flames into the pile of wood, sparking up a fire instantly.

She then leaped down and curled up by the fire, closing her eyes. Elliot watched the light dance off of her jewel-like scales, and decided that Scarlet was a fitting name for the crimson dragon. He smirked at the unusual nature of his new companion and ultimately followed her example, lying down by the fire and covering himself with his cape.

He drifted off into a decent sleep, all things considered.

–

Beast Boy sat on the roof of Titan Tower, a troubled expression on his face as he looked out at the afternoon sky. The roof seemed to be the go-to place for heroes that had a lot on their minds. The green teen leaned back onto his elbows, and gazed up at the sky.

He watched the clouds go by as the sea breeze tousled his short hair. He heard someone walk across the roof toward him, and looked over to see Robin approaching. The boy wonder took a seat beside him, allowing his feet to dangle off the edge of the building.

They both stared into the distance; neither teen spoke, nor made a move. Beast Boy finally broke the silence, "Robin. I want you to tell me the truth. Do you really think Raven's gonna be alright?" Robin's face scrunched up in concentration for a while before he answered, "I can't tell. While she'll be at a disadvantage without her powers, I'm sure she'd be able to find a way back without them. Cyborg's doing what he can to find her, but we need to focus on stopping Psimon right now."

Beast Boy nodded reluctantly, "Yeah. I guess she can take care of herself. I just wish I'd been there to stop it." Robin sighed his own disappointment, "We all wish we could've stopped it. All we can do now is have faith."

Beast Boy forced a smile and responded half-heartedly, "Rae's got this." Robin nodded his approval and looked out at the water before speaking, "Beast Boy, I know we've had our differences in the past, but I just want you to know that I appreciate you."

The green boy tilted his head, betraying his utter confusion, and the Boy Wonder continued, "You're always concerned about everyone's wellbeing. If someone's feeling down, you're the first one to notice. You're an optimist, and it's nice to have someone like you around." Beast Boy chuckled, "Thanks, dude."

The two teens sat in silence, simply enjoying each other's company until the sun sunk low in the sky. The end of one day simply signaled the beginning of the next; the cycle of the sun was a constant in a world of turmoil. It was the physical manifestation of hope. Of knowing that, if all else went awry, the sun would surely rise.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry about that cliffhanger last chapter! The end of this one is hopefully a bit less...cliffhangery.**

Hah. I'm so eloquent.

Anyway, the story is all set up now, and you've all met Scarlet! I would put up a character design for her on thatwykkydkid tumblr, but... Funny thing is, I can't really draw dragons very well. I'll put up the sketch I did, but it isn't nearly as good as the designs for Elliot or the unimportant cafe girl. The cover image is there, though, if you'd like to look at it closer.

**So the title of the story should make sense now:  
****The Chaos Plane = the place where our hero/villain is stuck powerless and surrounded by mutant creatures and carnivorous plants. Yay!**

**Feel free to ask questions or tell me what you think in a review!**

**Later days!**

**~Rose**


	6. Distractions

**Chapter 6: Distractions**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans**

* * *

Raven lay on her back with her head propped up against the base of comparatively friendly tree. Its fruit had been edible, and she was finally relieved of the feeling that her stomach was going to eat its way through her spine. She sighed as she gazed up at the night sky, wishing that she could be back home, where there was only one moon up above her.

She missed her friends, who were more like family to her now, and though she would never admit to it, she wished she had Beast Boy and Starfire to cheer her up with their obnoxious optimism. She realized that she had taken her friends for granted, and spoke only to herself,

"Guess you never know what you have until it's gone."

A sudden rustling in the brush below startled her into silence. She warily stared into the darkness, hoping to make out the source of the noise. She now knew better than to let her guard down, and hoped that there were no nocturnal carnivorous plants to worry about.

A rumbling growl informed her that her company was not a plant, but rather some type of animal. A pair of intelligent red eyes flashed in the bushes, and Raven stiffened in fear.

She reasoned that if she didn't move, it was possible that the thing would leave her alone. In an instant the creature leaped out of the brush and landed in front of the girl, proving that being still wouldn't have helped.

The monster appeared to be a blue wolf the size of a full-grown grizzly. Something of a sneer appeared on its scarred face, and it lunged toward the sorceress at full speed.

Raven's eyes narrowed as she launched herself in the direction of the wolf. She brought the heel of her free hand to its sensitive nose, and then smashed her knee into the side of its head, effectively dazing it.

From her prior assessment of the carnivore's build, she determined that it was incapable of climbing, and quickly scrambled up into the fruit tree. Perched on one of the highest limbs, she watched as the monster clawed at the bottom of the tree, snarling its complaints at having missed its dinner, before it turned and stalked away.

Raven made a mental note that trees were safer at night, and the ground was safer during the day. She sighed and tried to get some sleep, since she would need all of her strength for the trials of the next day.

The dimension she was trapped in was called the Chaos Plane for a reason, and Psimon definitely chose it because the likelihood of her survival in such a hostile environment was small.

She remembered that Kyd Wykkyd had been sent through the same portal, and reasoned that he may have ended up in the Chaos Plane as well. Raven did not know if she should attempt to save him as well, but decided that she would cross that bridge when she got to it. It was highly likely that he had already been eaten.

"One less thing to worry about," she muttered to herself cynically. The sorceress mentally slapped herself for entertaining such a thought, and remembered that she needed to be optimistic if she was going to make it through this ordeal. She sat up as she had an idea that bordered on brilliance.

She slowly wriggled her hand out of the collar, and noticed that it did not grow any smaller to adjust to her neck size. Her violet eyes danced with excitement as the removal of her hand from the device created more space for her to possibly squeeze her nose through. She got the collar up to her nose once more, but still it would not go above it.

The purple-haired teen sighed in defeat, dropped the collar back down to her neck, and lay her head down on the bark of the tree. She closed her eyes and willed herself into sleep.

–

Psimon smiled sinisterly as he looked over his files. His gnat-bots had been deployed, and he now had one of the most important ceramic pieces of all. His next shipment would be coming the next day, with a replacement for the second most important piece, which had been taken in Central City.

He knew that the Hive Five would be unsuccessful in stealing it from him without their fifth member, and he had no doubt that the Titans would be easily evaded, if not destroyed.

The telepath marveled at the pure genius that was his plan, and reveled in the fact that he had managed to injure both teams at once. "Two birds with one stone," he quoted laughingly.

"With those two out of the way, none of their inferior minds will be able to resist my control. The rest of my plan will go smoothly from now on."

Psimon looked over the schedule of his orders and shipments, and his grin grew even wider. He should have full control of the world in exactly three months. He circled the day on his calendar and laughed harshly, before he walked out of the room with a delighted spring in his step.

–

Kyd Wykkyd awoke to the rising of the sun, and yawned as he stretched his sore limbs. He hated to admit it, but really missed his bed back home. His stomach growled loudly, which he ignored in favor of yanking uselessly on his collar.

There were few things in life that he really hated, and that thing had recently made its way to the very top of the list.

He heard a clicking noise, and glanced over to see Scarlet standing beside him, and some variety of mutant squirrel dangled from her mouth. She threw it to the ground in front of him, and then pushed off into the air, presumably to catch another one.

He looked the dead animal over with a grimace, and debated on whether he _really_ needed to eat or not. Scarlet returned with another one between her teeth, and gave him a condescending look.

He poked it hesitantly, and the red dragon gave the equivalent of a sigh, before she shot a gentle jet of flame that cooked it rudimentarily in about five minutes.

The crimson lizard gazed at him expectantly until he picked the food up and took a bite. She then took to tearing into her own breakfast. Elliot decided that the food wasn't horrible, and continued to eat until he had nothing to chew on but bones. He cast the innards aside, which Scarlet scarfed down promptly.

'I will never understand why those like you are so wasteful.'

He simply shrugged at her, unable to communicate his indifference otherwise. She snorted, and tiny puffs of smoke escaped from her nostrils, but she gave no other indication of her dissatisfaction. Kyd Wykkyd decided that he needed a bath, and began trudging toward the river.

Hopefully Scarlet wouldn't mind acting as look-out for him. The last thing he wanted was to be attacked by some monster while he was unarmed.

–

Robin pored over the pile of information he had printed off at the Batcave, and tried to figure out what Psimon was planning. He was unsure whether the HIVE was coincidentally involved, though it seemed much more likely that they were employed by the telepath.

The current information about some satellites that had been launched told him that they were designed by none other than Gizmo. The ebony-haired teen pinched the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and thumb, cursing his throbbing head for distracting him from the answers he needed to find.

Robin gazed at the piece of paper Jinx had left with him, reading the message over for what felt like the hundredth time. "Put that piece somewhere safe. Things are not as they appear."

He slammed his fist down on the table, before he stood abruptly and exited the evidence room. Robin entered the Common Room, where his team was sitting around eating dinner. He waited until he had their undivided attention before delivering his verdict, "The HIVE 5 are villains, and until I find some kind of proof that they aren't working for Psimon, we have to assume they are."

Beast Boy furrowed his brow, "But dude, I really think they were trying to stop that wacko." Robin's eyes narrowed beneath his mask, "You can't prove that." The other teen's emerald eyes dropped to the table, "No. But-"

Robin raised a hand, "He could be doing this on purpose to confuse us. He's a telepath, guys. Mind games are his home-field advantage. We're one member short already, and we can't afford to fall into any more traps."

Starfire's eyes grew wide as she understood Robin's words, "Friend Robin, you believe the 'getting rid of' Raven was a trap?" Cyborg narrowed his eyes in anger, and Beast Boy's green eyes lit up in realization and he flailed his arms around as he spoke, "It was! Did you notice how when he did that mind-screechy thing, Raven and that Wykkyd guy were the only ones left standing?"

"He got rid of 'em cause they knew how to stand up to him," the cybernetic teen finished.

Robin nodded, "And all of the HIVE robberies were probably bait for us, so he could get Raven out of the way."

All of the Teen Titans stared down at the table, their expressions containing various emotions, including anger, anticipation, and most noticeably, disappointment.

–

A loud whistling noise rudely yanked Raven from her peaceful slumber, and she lurched into an upright position.

"Well look what we have here.", a gravelly voice commented tauntingly. Raven's lilac eyes widened in shock as she beheld the hulking humanoid before her. He was more muscular than any human man she had ever seen, his skin was a sickly yellow color, and his eyes were entirely black except for his white pupils.

His hairy face twisted into a vile sneer, revealing pointed canines that told her he was not a vegetarian.

Amongst the coarse black hair, she recognized a power-canceling collar much different from her own around his neck. Whatever powers he had were quite unnecessary in order to threaten her, as he wielded a sharp knife in his left hand. "You look like a human," he licked his chops, "Haven't had human for dinner in a _long_ time."

She rolled to her feet, balancing on the tree branch as she backed away from the newfound predator.

Her heart pounded relentlessly in her chest, as she realized that she was currently about a mile above the ground, unarmed, and her only escape route was in the direction of the creature that was steadily stalking toward her. She grabbed her collar with both hands, heaving it up toward her nose.

Raven knew this would be painful, but braced herself with the knowledge that it would be over quickly.

She shoved her nose to the left with one hand, as she pushed up on the collar roughly with the other. She bit down on her lip as the cartilage snapped under the pressure, but was able to heave the hated thing over her head before throwing it to the ground.

Blood flowed freely from her dislocated nose, down her chin and onto the front of her cloak. The yellow-skinned alien eyed her suspiciously as she calmly reached up and snapped her nose back into place.

He raised an eyebrow, and spoke with obvious disappointment in his voice, "Not human, are ya?" Raven stepped forward with all of her former confidence,

"That. Is none of your business."

The sorceress's eyes began to glow a ghostly white as dark energy sparked around her in a manner reminiscent of a lightening storm.

The muscle-bound alien began to back away cautiously, and after a few seconds, he turned tail and ran. Raven smirked to herself as he began to scramble down the tree. She snapped her fingers and the branch he was gripping snapped off, causing him to tumble the rest of the way to the ground.

He lay there dazed a while, and then finally got up and skulked off, presumably to find something else for dinner. The sorceress placed her index finger and thumb on the bridge of her nose, and her hand began to glow with a bluish light as she healed the broken cartilage.

Raven levitated herself to the ground and picked up her discarded collar, and after some consideration, she decided to keep it, since it may come in handy later. She then set off to find a more permanent shelter while she figured out how to get home.

–

Kyd Wykkyd sat on the lowest branch of one of the trees that stretched out over the shimmering water of the river. His damp black hair dripped down onto the wood of the branch, and his feet dangled over the water.

He had stashed his cape, cowl, and shirt in his favorite tree, since he had little need of them without his powers, and had not even bothered to put on shoes.

His pale face wore an expression of contentment, and he smiled lightly as he watched Scarlet shooting through the air above him, weaving to and fro in a display of total mastery of the sky. The crimson dragon had been his constant companion since he saved her three weeks ago, and he had become quite fond of her.

She shot a small column of flame into the air, and then tucked her wings close to her body and twisted through it, opening them up in order to stop her downward spiral. Elliot loved watching her enjoy herself, and she was never more happy than when she was in the sky.

Suddenly, something zipped past Scarlet's head, and Wykkyd's eyes narrowed as he tried to figure out what it was. The small dragon noticed and turned back toward their camp, but had only traveled half the distance when an arrow tore through the membrane of her left wing.

She faltered, and then began to tumble toward the water. Elliot acted on instinct, and leaped into the river before she was even completely submerged. When he arrived at her side, she was struggling to stay afloat due to the pain of her injured wing.

She clamored onto his shoulders, leaving minor scratches in her wake, and rested her head on top of his. Kyd Wykkyd's eyes sparked with anger as he headed in the general direction from which the arrows came.

Once he reached shore, he climbed the nearest tree and then jumped from one to another by way of the branches, nearing the suspected shooter with his level of stealth.

He stopped directly above a young man and a woman who wore a very simple clothing. The man had a quiver slung over his back, and held a bow in his right hand. The woman had a rather large pack on her back, which was presumably full of the man's catches.

She looked older than the man, possibly his mother, and she spoke softly, "James, you should not have shot at that poor creature. It did nothing to you." She shook her head disappointedly, "Now let us get back home. We both should get into some clean clothes before we cook these." She motioned to the bag that was slung over her back.

James laughingly shook his head, "I want that dragon's pelt. It was gorgeous. You distracted me, so I didn't see where it fell." Elliot locked eyes with Scarlet, who was perched on his shoulder, holding her injured wing out at an odd angle. Her expression burned with rage, but she was in no condition to face a hunter, so he lifted her up and placed her gently on the branch.

She looked like she was about to protest, but Wykkyd gave her a pleading look that told her to stay put.

He then dropped down from the tree, landing directly in front of James. Both the man and woman took a few steps backward, their faces the perfect picture of shock. Elliot smirked sinisterly as he yanked the bow from the man's hand, and jabbed him in the stomach with it, effectively knocking the wind out of him.

James landed on his rump, wheezing and coughing, and the woman let out a terrified scream. She remained frozen in fear, however, as Wykkyd snatched the quiver from the man's back.

Satisfied with his stolen goods, Elliot smiled, then slung the bow and quiver over his shoulder and began walking away from the two petrified natives. James seemed to regain his senses, jumped to his feet, and pulled a knife from his pocket.

He lunged toward Elliot's back, fully intending to bury the blade there. Wykkyd dodged the attack effortlessly, and James flew into an angry fury, swiping the knife erratically while trying to down his opponent.

Kyd Wykkyd laughed silently, recognizing that his opponent was inexperienced with combat, and quickly knocked the blade out of his hand. The man scrambled toward where the knife lay on the ground, but right before he reached it, the woman called out his name in order to get his attention.

He looked up to see that Elliot had nocked an arrow, and had pointed it right at him. He raised his hands in surrender, and then yelled disdainfully, "What do you want?"

Suddenly, the red dragon fluttered down wearily from the tree above them, and alighted on Elliot's shoulder, baring her teeth angrily. The man's eyes widened in shock as he realized that it was the same dragon he had knocked out of the sky not too long ago.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was yours! It's got a gorgeous pelt -Ah, I mean color!" James sighed, "Look, I don't have any money. And the things in the bag are to feed my family. You can have it if you want, but I'm the only hunter, so please don't kill me!", he pleaded desperately.

The dark haired teen looked over to Scarlet who seemed to understand him perfectly, without moving the bow from the man's path. She spoke to James in a commanding mental voice, 'We desire only your outer garments. My companion has but one set of clothes at the moment. Give him yours, and your life shall be spared.'

The man stared at them, dumbfounded, before he removed his jacket, shirt, and pants. He threw them to the ground in front of Elliot, who finally placed the arrow back in the quiver and slung the bow over his shoulder once more.

He picked up the discarded clothes, and gave the now underwear-clad man a mock salute before he took off into the woods.

The woman turned to the man, a confused expression on her face, "What just happened?"

He shook his head, "I have no idea."

* * *

**A/N: Soo...**

**1\. Robin is being stubborn.  
****2\. Psimon marked _Take Over the World_ on his calendar.  
****3\. Elliot stole that guy's clothes. Haha  
****4\. And Raven got her collar off. (Which I really enjoyed typing)**

**Just so you guys know, I love reviews. They genuinely make me happy. I try to reply to every review, because they're just so awesome.**

**~Rose**


	7. Hunted

**A/N: I'm pretty sure you're going to enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Hunted**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans**

* * *

Robin waved his team on silently, as they stealthily snuck into a supposedly abandoned warehouse on the edge of town. There was no guarantee that they had the right place, but he reasoned that you could never be too cautious.

He quietly leaped over the railing in front of him, and landed on the ground with a muted thud. Starfire alighted next to him, and he grabbed her wrist, yanking her along as he ducked behind a few barrels of oil. She began to protest, but remembered that they were supposed to remain undetected, and decided to listen instead.

She heard a clang as the front door opened, and the shuffling of a few pair of feet as new people entered. Robin peeked above the containers in time to see two cloaked figures emerge from the darkness on the opposite end of the warehouse and approach the new arrivals. The package was handed over to the cloaked individuals, who murmured their thanks before they turned their backs on them.

The delivery workers frowned, and then walked out uneasily, glancing over their shoulders every once in a while. Robin realized that something must be amiss for them to behave in such a way, and was proven right as the figures suddenly threw off their cloaks, revealing See-More and Billy Numerous.

They high-fived before See-More seemingly activated his com-link and began speaking excitedly, "We got it, man!" He paused, seemingly listening to someone Robin couldn't hear, and then responded, "Yeah, we're about to be on our way! We'll be careful!"

The Boy Wonder decided that the interesting part was over, and made a definitive signal to his team. They leaped into action on right on cue, as Beast Boy in the form of a hawk snatched the package from Billy's hands, Cyborg shot See-More in the back with his sonic cannon, and Robin knocked Billy to the ground. The Texan suddenly began to multiply, and Starfire joined Robin in his attempts to stop the villain.

See-More shouted in frustration, "You guys don't understand! We need to get that part!" Robin stood before him with his arms crossed over his chest, and spoke authoritatively, "Which is exactly why you won't get it!"

Time seemed to freeze as a commanding voice echoed through the rickety warehouse, "Psimon says..._forget._.."

Robin shot upright in his bed, and glanced out the window at the bright sunny day. Most people in such a situation would assume they had dreamed about the stealthy nighttime escapade, but Robin had been waking up like this way too many times to dismiss it as a dream.

He was still in his mission uniform from last night, and his hair was crusted in dry sweat and hair gel. He growled his frustration through clenched teeth as he brought his fist down on his alarm clock, efficiently busting it to pieces.

–

Raven yawned and stretched as she stirred from her place on her makeshift bed. She looked around at the cave she refused to call home, and realized that it was beginning to look more and more like a living space than a temporary shelter.

She had built shelves on the far wall to house the possible ingredients she had gathered that may have been able to send her back home. She hadn't added to the collection in a week, and the sorceress realized that somewhere in the back of her mind, she was losing hope.

It was nearing what she believed to be the middle of her second month in this treacherous world, and she had fought all manner of thieves, murderers, cannibals, and psychopaths. She knew from her reading that this dimension was basically a universal dumping ground for overly dangerous intergalactic criminals.

The environment was naturally so inhospitable that most judicial systems considered it a far worse punishment than the death penalty. The water was full of all manner of flesh-eating fish, carnivorous plants reigned free during the day, and gigantic beasts with razor-sharp teeth hunted at night.

There were also small villages of non-criminals interspersed throughout the land. People who had descended from the ones who were dumped here for their crimes. The newer additions to this world plundered the settlements on a regular basis, taking what they wanted when they wanted it.

She shook her head as she thought about the fact that their circumstances of birth had doomed them to a life of fear and struggle for survival. It wasn't fair. Then again, nothing ever was.

The girl sighed grimly as she stood up and and walked over to the second set of shelves on the other side of her cave, which held her accumulated food supply. Raven grabbed a large neon green fruit that resembled a strawberry, and walked over to the mouth of her abode.

The cave was actually about two stories worth of height above the ground, making it difficult enough to reach that she would be safe during the night. She dangled her feet off of the ledge, and bit into her breakfast while she watched the giant butterfly creatures fly overhead. They only came out at daybreak, so she got up early every day to see them.

She finished her fruit and tossed the stem to the ground, as she contemplated what her friends would be doing right about now. Robin would probably be the only one awake, getting in some early morning training at the crack of dawn.

She smiled to herself as she remembered their daily routine, which included her favorite tea, waffles, and the infamous meat vs. tofu war. She didn't realize how much she missed even the most annoying things.

Raven sighed sadly, and then her eyes took on a glint of determination. "I can't give up.", she asserted as she headed out to pick up where she left off with the gathering of ingredients for her spells.

With a renewed sense of purpose, the sorceress levitated down to the ground.

–

Kyd Wykkyd stood on a tree branch, dressed in a relatively plain white shirt and brown pants. He wore no shoes, as his bare feet were better equipped to grip the bark, and his long sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. His bow and quiver were slung across his back, and Scarlet was perched on his left shoulder, with her tail wrapped around his arm.

She remained light as a feather, as if she were some variety of hollow-boned bird rather than an exotic reptile. The teenager was making his rounds and inspecting his territory, as had become a routine in the month and a half that he had been trapped in this dimension.

If Elliot was being honest with himself, he had already given up any hope of escape. He was now trying to create a life for himself where he was, and he figured that he was doing a pretty good job of it.

There were some things he missed about his former life, like his good friend See-More and the café, but being in this place offered him something else. This place granted him a clean slate, and a separation from the life of the cape and cowl. A chance to be something other than Kyd Wykkyd.

Here, he could just be Elliot, and no one would be the wiser.

Even Scarlet would probably never find out about his past, and he liked it that way. The dragon was great company, and valued silence the same way Elliot did when he had his own telepathic powers. She spoke rarely, but was always blunt with her words, and he liked that about her.

His hair fell into his eyes as he looked up at the clouds, and Scarlet gave her version of a frown, 'Rain'.

He shrugged, and began to head toward his tree-top shelter, but he froze quite a few trees away. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was out of place, so he waited patiently. Suddenly, a flash of blue near his home caught his attention, and his unnaturally red orbs narrowed in suspicion.

He recognized the figure as the Teen Titan named Raven. He concluded that Psimon had thrown her into this place as well, and watched as she poked around his abode. Scarlet growled softly, and he stroked her head once in a soothing manner. He decided that he would stay out of sight and wait for her to leave, since letting her see him would cause a lot of trouble for himself.

Raven walked around the rather well put together tree shelter, searching for the flower bud that she needed. She feared that she had come too late, as the soft pink flowers seemed to have already bloomed. Her violet eyes zeroed in on a solitary bud located directly above the roof of the treehouse. She carefully climbed up on top of it, and stretched up onto her tiptoes to reach her prize. She picked it and placed it into her pack with a triumphant smirk.

Both she and the hidden teen jumped in surprise as a low voice boomed out from below, "Hey! I'm not finished with you yet!" Elliot looked down to see a familiar blue-skinned alien named R'ndy shaking his fist at the purple-haired sorceress. He was tall and thin, but muscular, and had already started to climb up Elliot's tree.

Wykkyd's red eyes narrowed angrily as he realized that this guy had trespassed on his territory, but he dared not attack and reveal himself and his home to his unexpected visitors. As long as they didn't know it was his, he wouldn't have to move.

Scarlet made a huffing noise and spoke to him, 'He is climbing our tree,' Elliot simply put his finger to his lips, signaling for her to remain silent. She glared at him silently before turning her attention back to the intruders.

The man was now in the tree, and Raven was standing atop the roof with her arms crossed. "Come back for more?", she asked arrogantly. The man frowned deeply before he pulled an egg-shaped object from his pocket, "An eye for an eye."

He brought it to his mouth, and Elliot realized too late that it was a grenade.

R'ndy tossed it inside the tree house, and Raven's eyes widened as she threw up an energy shield to protect herself. The resulting blast threw her into the neighboring tree branch, and her arms gripped at it as her body dangled in the air.

The alien stepped toward her and spoke tauntingly, "You destroy my home; I destroy yours." A frustrated expression appeared on her face, "But that wasn't mine." His eyes seemed to bug out of their sockets, "Not yours? Then whose-"

He was cut short as an arrow planted itself in the back of his shoulder, and he grunted in pain. Raven scrambled back onto the branch and stayed in a crouching position, ready to deflect any future arrows. As if on cue, rain began to pour from the sky, and R'ndy yanked the arrow from his flesh with a pained yelp. Following a quick inspection, his expression became clouded with surprise as he turned in time to see the dark-haired teenager drop onto the branch on which he stood, bow in hand as he adopted a fighting stance.

The boy's pale face was set in an expression that communicated both his rage and distaste, and the dragon on his shoulder hissed angrily with her sharp teeth bared. 'OURS!', she screeched mentally, causing both Raven and R'ndy to acquire pounding headaches.

Raven couldn't see well in the blinding rain, but something about the boy seemed familiar. He nocked an arrow and aimed it at the tall alien with a vacant look in his eye as the rain streamed down his face and dripped off of his black hair.

Crashes of thunder and flashes of lightening sporadically illuminated the standoff until R'ndy threw his hands up in surrender and began to back away. Elliot lowered his bow by a few inches, and the man turned tail and scurried down the tree as fast as possible under the slippery conditions.

After the alien had gone, Elliot slung his bow over his shoulder and approached the charred remains of his rain shelter. His shoulders slumped as he realized that he and Scarlet were in for a rather wet night, and he knelt down by the pile of burning wood, wiping the rain from his brow with the back of his hand.

He heard Raven approach, and felt the red dragon shift as she turned to glare daggers at the sorceress. 'Your fault', she stated simply, her mental voice full of accusation.

Raven's violet eyes were full of guilt, but she felt no surprise at the fact that the creature could talk, as she nodded at the dragon, "Yes, it's my fault. I'm sorry." The dragon snorted, a puff of smoke rising from her nostrils, 'Your apologies will not rebuild our shelter'.

The sorceress nodded, and stepped forward, "I know, but you can both stay with me tonight. It's not much, but it's dry. It's the least I can do after all the trouble I caused you."

Elliot sighed silently as he considered her offer. Scarlet looked her companion in the eye, and then spoke only to him, 'No matter how much you dislike this girl, sleeping in her shelter shall be better than being wet'.

He weighed his options, and decided that the soaked reptile was most likely correct. She was already starting to tremble from the cold, and being out in this weather all night would be really bad for her.

He rose and nodded his head in Raven's direction. The sorceress motioned for him to follow her, and levitated to the ground. Elliot's eyes grew wide as he tried to figure out what had happened to her collar, and whether he could convince her to help him get his own off. When he reached the ground, Raven created an umbrella-like shield that protected all three of them from the rain as they walked.

She didn't attempt to make small-talk, which the teenage boy was grateful for, since he could not respond. After only a mile of walking, they reached a mountain where Raven stopped and created a flying disc beneath their feet.

She then lifted them up into a cavern quite a few yards off the ground. Upon setting Elliot down, she walked over to a hand-made wicker basket and pulled out two large pieces of fabric that resembled towels.

Elliot had his back turned to her, and stared out at the rain contemplatively. His ebony hair hung down in his face and dripped onto the floor of the cave. She approached him from behind and held out the cloth toward him, "It's supposed to be a towel. I got it in the refugee town nearby."

He removed his soaked shirt before he took the towel from her and draped it over his head. She walked into the dark part of the cavern, where she could change her clothes without fear of being seen. When she emerged again, the red dragon was stretched out beside a fire she had built, and the teenage boy was still attempting to dry himself off at the mouth of the cave.

Raven took a seat in front of the fire, across from the reptile, and stared at the boy as she tried to figure out why he seemed so familiar. He brought the towel to his face and began to gently wipe the water from it, and Raven began to speak, "I feel like we've met before. You look so-"

Elliot sighed silently and removed the towel from his face, turning to give her a pointed look. She stopped mid-sentence as she recognized the boy she had teased in the café once before. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out what that guy was doing in a place as treacherous as the Chaos Plane, and how he got there.

She looked down and saw a power-canceling collar exactly like hers around his neck.

Her lilac eyes widened as she finally fit the pieces together, and she adopted a fighting stance, "You're Kyd Wykkyd!"

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, another cliffie.**

**So Psimon's plans are proceeding unhindered, and Raven got Elliot's rain shelter blown up. All that aside, they've met now! Wasn't everyone waiting for that?**

**Let me know what you think! Reviews are really encouraging!**

**To **bbrra4ever**: Thanks for your review! I'm very glad you're enjoying the story! You didn't use a FF account, so I couldn't message you, but I put it on here in hopes that you'd see it!**

**Also, whoever reviewed as **asdfghjkl **on Chapter 2, I want to thank your for your kind words! You don't know how much that means to me!**

**_Maybe I should steal the mailbag idea from FORCE?_**

**~Rose**


	8. Resignation

**Chapter 8: Resignation**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans**

* * *

Jinx sat on a towel on the beach, watching her boyfriend play a one-man game of frisbee. He was suddenly beside her, smiling his signature cocky smile. He pecked her on her cheek and then lay down on his back atop his towel.

Jinx smiled cheerfully as she looked down on him, "Wally, this is the best day off ever!" He laughed happily, "The Flash was more than willing to watch over the city for the day, so we can just relax."

She pulled her sunglasses down over her eyes and lowered herself down onto her towel beside Kid Flash. She sighed in contentment, "This is the life!" He rolled over on his side to watch as the wind tousled her loose hair. He smiled goofily as he reached for her hand and intertwined her fingers with his.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, but then closed them as if she were sleeping. "Hey Jinx?" Her eyes remained closed as she acknowledged him, "Yes?" He chuckled, "I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I have a crush on you. A major one." Jinx broke into a full-blown laugh, "Yes, Wally! I've noticed."

He squeezed her hand gently, "Good." Jinx turned her head and began slowly leaning in for a kiss, when suddenly Kid Flash's communicator went off.

Both teens groaned, and the red head reluctantly picked up his communicator, "Uh, yes?" Robin's face appeared on the screen, and he spoke with authority, "We have some things we would like to discuss with both of you."

He paused enough time to see that they were lying on the beach and that Jinx was in a swimsuit, and then awkwardly added on, "I mean, if you aren't busy..." Jinx looked to her boyfriend pleadingly, and Kid Flash frowned for a second before replying nervously, "Uh we aren't exactly _busy_-"

"Great! See you in about an hour.", Robin replied quickly before hanging up. Jinx punched her boyfriend in the arm, "Ugh! Wally!"

"Ouch!"

–

Elliot rolled his eyes as he heard her call him his villain name, and realized that it was really impossible to leave his old life behind. He refused to acknowledge her threatening demeanor, instead, he casually walked over and plopped down beside Scarlet.

Raven dropped her stance, but crossed her arms defensively, "So you're alive." He flashed his crimson eyes at her, and shrugged his shoulders, which indicated how stupid he thought her statement was. The sorceress sighed and sat down across from him stiffly, lapsing into silence.

He noticed that Scarlet was shivering, and began wiping her off with his towel. Once he got her dry, he lay down on his side facing the fire, resting his head on his arm.

The red dragon snuggled into his stomach, and he placed a hand on top of her relaxed wings before he drifted off to sleep. Raven watched all of this with wonder, part of her was shocked that a villain could be so gentle.

She tilted her head to the side as she realized that Kyd Wykkyd was definitely not what she expected him to be like. After a few minutes of silence, Scarlet lifted her head and addressed Raven, 'You both come from the same land?'

The sorceress nodded, and the dragon continued, 'Could you tell me my companion's name? He cannot speak because of the device on his neck.' She shook her head, "I only know him by his alias." The reptile sighed sadly and lay her head down once more, 'I see that you wear no such device. Why?'

The violet-haired girl crossed her arms, "I took it off. It's over there." She motioned to a shelf on the other side of the room.

Scarlet lifted her head once more, and excitement colored her mental voice, 'You could remove my companion's device, then.' Raven furrowed her brow, and shook her head, "I could, but I won't. He's too dangerous, and I don't trust him."

The dragon huffed angrily, smoke escaping from her mouth, 'You humans wouldn't know dangerous if it bit you in the rump.' The sorceress smirked in amusement, "Do you have a name?"

The crimson reptile sighed and then cuddled her head into Elliot's warm body, 'I am sure I do. He will tell me what it is one day.' Raven thought to herself that she would probably be waiting a long time for that.

The sorceress climbed into her bed and drifted off to sleep.

–

Kid Flash and Jinx arrived at the door to Titans Tower, and after the redhead had placed Jinx's feet on the ground, she gave him a half-hearted shove. "I can't believe you! We had a one day vacation, and you let bird-boy call us here?", she yelled in frustration.

He leaned down to her eye-level as he placed both hands on her shoulders, "Look, Robin wouldn't call us here if he didn't need us."

He proceeded to grab her hand and lead her through the doors. They arrived in the Common Room, where almost all of the Titans had gathered. Kid Flash looked around, and scratched his head, "Uh, isn't someone missing?"

Robin sighed, "No, we're all here." Jinx's catlike eyes took on a mischievous shimmer, "Ooh, you kicked Raven off the team?" That seemed to have struck a nerve, as the Titans collectively flinched. Beast Boy was the one to break the awkward silence, "No way, dudes! We'd never do that. It was that Psimon guy."

Cyborg picked up where the green teen left off, "He threw her and that Wykkyd kid through a portal. I've tried everything, but I just can't get a lock on where she is." Jinx gasped as her eyes brimmed with tears, "What? No. Kyd? He's gone?" Robin nodded solemnly. A tear escaped, and Jinx roughly rubbed it away, "That idiot! _I trained him better than that_."

Robin cleared his throat, trying not to be rude, but wanting to get to the point, "I called you here because we need all of your knowledge on the HIVE 5. We've been having a lot of run-ins with them, and we need to be able to take them down quickly and efficiently if we're gonna stop whatever Psimon is doing!" Jinx narrowed her eyes angrily, "Wait a second, -"

Kid Flash interrupted her quickly, "Hold up, what do they have to do with Psimon?" Robin brought his fist into the palm of his opposite hand, "They're working for him. He's using them as a distraction, and while we fight them, he comes in and takes the piece out from under our noses. We have got to get them out of the picture so we can catch this guy."

"How do you even know they're working for him? I highly doubt they are.", Jinx interjected.

"We don't have any proof otherwise, and they pop up too often for it to be a coincidence.", Robin replied brusquely. The pink-haired witch groaned in frustration, "Geez, did you even try talking to them? You can't just make assumptions like that! Didn't you learn _anything_ from your mentor?"

The Boy Wonder gritted his teeth angrily, "Don't question my training. Ever. They're criminals. You can't _talk_ to them. You can't trust them." Jinx slammed her fist down on the table, and an accidental hex split it in two, "I was a criminal once! Are you saying you can't trust _me_?"

Robin's eyes narrowed beneath his mask, "You know that's not what I said."

"That's what you meant!", she accused.

Cyborg interrupted the argument, "That's enough, Rob. Look Jinx, we just need some help. We've been getting our butts kicked, and whether they're working with this guy or not, they're keeping us from stopping him." Jinx grew quiet, "I can't do that to them, Cy. They're still my friends."

Robin huffed angrily, "You're a hero now, Jinx. Your job is to take down criminals, and your 'friends' happen to be just that." The pink-haired girl crossed her arms and looked away from him, and he continued, "As an honorary Titan, you're required to give us the information we need."

Jinx stepped toward Robin, a hostile expression on her face, "_Required_? I'm not _required_ to do anything!" Cyborg slapped his hand to his face, realizing that Robin had crossed a line and was about to get what he deserved. Robin, however, still did not see his error, and continued to speak, "You are. It's in the paperwork you signed."

Her hands balled into fists and pink energy danced around them. Kid Flash's eyes grew wide, and he placed a calming hand on her shoulder, "Look, Robin. Jinx just wants to stay neutral in this. You can understand that, right?"

Robin rubbed his temples, "There _is_ no neutral here. Either you're with us, or against us."

Jinx's pink eyes grew wide with shock, "So that's how it's going to be, huh? You're giving me an ultimatum." The Boy Wonder crossed his arms, "That's _exactly_ what I'm doing. Either you help us take down the HIVE, or I will revoke your honorary status." Jinx's expression turned dangerously calm, "Oh, that won't be necessary."

Robin adopted a slight smile of approval, and he prepared to move forward with his planning. Suddenly, a yellow projectile conked him in the head.

"CAUSE I _QUIT_!", Jinx yelled angrily as she stalked toward the door.

"Catch you later, _boy blunder_!"

The other Titans' jaws dropped collectively as they stared at the girl's retreating figure. The doors swooshed shut, and Cyborg shot Robin a death-glare, "Oh you've done it now, bird-boy." Wally stared at them all, his mouth flapped wordlessly, making him look a bit like a goldfish. He finally managed to force a few choked words out, "Did. She. Just. Quit?"

Beast Boy nodded wordlessly in response, and Kid Flash suddenly zoomed out the door after her.

He found her in the garage, where she seemed to be waiting for him. He approached her hesitantly, "Uh, Jinx. You didn't really mean that did you?" She shook her head at him, "I did. I'm done being a Titan." He took her hand in his and shot her a nervous smile, "But you'll still stay with me, right? We make an awesome team."

He waggled his eyebrows at her in an attempt to make her smile. She chuckled faintly, and placed her hand on his cheek, "Sorry, Wally. My team needs me." His eyes grew wide with shock, "But Jinxie, what about _us_?"

"This isn't _about_ us. I have a feeling that whatever is going on, it's big. Big enough that the HIVE 5 isn't in it for personal gain.", she motioned outward with her free hand, trying to communicate the magnitude of the situation.

Wally pulled her face to his, resting his forehead against hers, "How do you know that?" Her determined expression faltered, giving way to a bit of sadness, "Because he got rid of Kyd Wykkyd. If they were working for him, he would keep another telepath like Kyd close to him. Something's not right here, and I have to figure out what."

Kid Flash leaned forward, as if to kiss her. "I can help," he breathed. She took a step away from him, putting distance between their faces, "You can't, Wally. I have to do this alone." He frowned sadly as her words sunk in, and she spoke reassuringly, "Don't worry, I'll call you if I need you. I promise."

He forced a smile, and nodded reluctantly, "Alright. I'll be waiting." She grinned widely and gave him a chaste kiss, which left him standing there with a dreamy look in his eye as she darted across the room. She hopped onto a red motorcycle, and placed her finger near the ignition, sending a pink spark through the machine.

It roared to life, and she blew Kid Flash a kiss before she shot out the door on the stolen bike. She giggled to herself as she imagined how angry bird boy would be when he discovered his missing R-cycle.

–

The HIVE 5 sat around in their common room while Gizmo paced around the room muttering words like, "crud", "snot", and "garbage". See-More sat on the couch dejectedly staring at the wall, while Billy Numerous blankly pushed the button on the remote and changed the channel constantly. Mammoth stood in the kitchen sadly watching the refrigerator with obvious disinterest, as he was in no mood to eat for once.

He spoke begrudgingly, "We stink." Billy sighed, "You can say that again. We ain't gotten a single piece since that Psimon guy got rid of Wykkyd." See-More frowned sadly, "Jinx would know what to do."

A feminine voice suddenly rang through the room, "You rang?"

See-More leaped out of his seat and whirled around in time to see the pink-haired teen walk through the sliding door. His eye looked as if it were about to bug out of its socket, "Jinx! You came back!" Gizmo leaped in front of her, guns at the ready, "Oh no you don't! I'm not going to jail again! Where's your team hiding?"

She inspected her nails with a bored expression on her face, "Oh, you mean the Titans? I quit."

The boy genius narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "I don't believe you." She placed her hands on her hips cockily, "Believe what you want, but from the looks of things, you guys need me." Gizmo crossed his arms across his chest, "We were doing just fine without you."

"Yeah! Until Wykkyd disappeared...", Billy muttered under his breath. The diminutive genius groaned in defeat, "So we had a little trouble lately. Big deal! Listen up, Jinx. I'm letting you resume your position on this team because... We can't be the HIVE 5 with only four members."

Jinx chuckled good-naturedly, "Whatever you say, Gizmo."

–

Elliot felt a nudging against his chin, and rolled over without bothering to open his eyes. He felt something warm and wet slither across his face, and his eyes flew open as he jerked upright immediately.

He wiped his face and looked over at Scarlet, who stared at him blankly as if she had done nothing wrong. Elliot furrowed his brow as he wondered if he dreamed the whole ordeal up, when the red dragon suddenly began making a low coughing sound that resembled a laugh.

He realized that Scarlet had indeed licked him to wake him up, and he shot her a glare.

"Would you like breakfast?" Elliot jumped at the unexpected sound of a female voice, and rolled to his feet in a fighting stance. Raven arched an eyebrow at him, "Well?" He dropped his fighting stance and rubbed his arm sheepishly while he nodded at her.

She offered him a wooden plate of fruit and fire cooked meat. He tried to use his eyes to communicate his thanks, before he dug in. He was surprised at how flavorful the meat was, and looked at the girl questioningly. She simply shrugged and replied, "I get salt from town."

He watched as Scarlet tore into her raw cut of meat, and shook his head laughingly. Raven stared out the mouth of the cave, watching the giant butterflies flutter over the treetops. She spoke thoughtfully, "Will I be stuck here forever?"

Elliot picked up a rock and scraped it across the ground. It left behind a fine white line in its wake; he smiled excitedly and put it in his pocket. Elliot finished up his breakfast, and then took a seat beside the sorceress, staring at her intently until she met his gaze.

Her face hardened, and she looked back to the insects, "I need to find the right ingredients for my inter-dimensional spell, since I can't travel from one dimension to the next without at least an amplifying spell." The dark-haired boy pulled the rock from his pocket and scrawled a two word message on the ground. 'I can.' The girl glanced at him quizzically, "What do you mean, you can?"

Elliot tugged on his collar with obvious frustration, and huffed as he rested his head in his hands. Raven's face became emotionless, "I won't remove it." He gave her a questioning look, and she merely shook her head at him, "I can't trust you. Even if you _can_ escape this jungle, how do I know you won't just take off and leave me stranded here?"

He threw his hands out in exasperation, and then flopped onto his back as he rubbed his face with his hands roughly. "Sorry," she stated in a pointed monotone that contradicted her apologetic words. Elliot shot her a hostile glare before he covered his face again.

Raven's expression remained the same as she questioned the boy, "What's your problem? You seem to be getting along just fine without your powers." He removed his hands from his face, and sat up to stare out the mouth of the cave at the beautiful flying creatures outside.

He grasped the part of his throat that was left uncovered by the collar as his demeanor turned melancholy. Raven furrowed her eyebrows, "You speak telepathically. You want to be able to speak?"

Elliot nodded sadly as he absentmindedly traced the ridged path of the scar beneath his fingers.

* * *

**A/N: Some Flinx for your viewing pleasure. So Jinx quit the Teen Titans, and Gizmo allowed her to come back because they can't be the HIVE 5 without five members.**

**Raven's kinda being a jerk, huh?**

**Not a lot of plot action here, but it's been set up now. Elliot's got to convince Raven to take off that collar.**

**Later Days!**

**~Rose**


	9. Collaboration

**Chapter 9: Collaboration**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.**

* * *

Jinx sat on a rooftop holding binoculars to her eyes as she watched the package delivery truck turn the corner. She spoke authoritatively into her com-link, "Package is ready for pick-up." See-More's voice responded in her ear, "Roger."

A laser shot from the sky, took out the back tire of the truck, and caused the driver to veer off of the road. The rosy haired girl smiled, and waited until the driver got out and walked around to inspect the blown out tire.

She then quietly gave another command, "Begin Phase Two." Gizmo shot a tranquilizer dart at the driver from his rooftop vantage point, and all eyes watched as the man slowly slumped against the truck, unconscious.

"Three," Jinx commanded. Billy Numerous emerged from a nearby alley, and snatched the keys to the truck from the unconscious man's hand. He unlocked the back of the truck, and slunk back into the alley. A drop of sweat trickled down Jinx's forehead as she sat atop the roof, tensed with anticipation, "Four..."

The doors became encapsulated in Gizmo's tracter beam, and they flew open, seemingly of their own accord. All of the teens sat at the ready, muscles taut with apprehension.

They waited for what felt like hours, when in fact, it had only been a few minutes. Unexpectedly, a figure emerged from the doors of the truck. A malevolent expression stretched across his face as he raised his voice tauntingly, "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

The teens remained silent, and Gizmo whispered into his com-link, "He's got it in his hand. Take him down." Mammoth, See-More, and Billy all attacked as a unit, and Psimon merely raised his hand at them, "Psimon says, stop!" The three teens froze in their places, and the telepath grinned condescendingly, "Now. Where's your tiny leader?"

Gizmo used his jet-pack to lower himself down to the ground across from Psimon, and the tall man laughed, "Ah, there you are. Shouldn't you have given up already? You _must_ know that you cannot stop me."

The boy genius gritted his teeth angrily, and his many laser guns emerged from his mechanical backpack and buzzed to life as they charged with energy, "Eat crud, barf-bag!" He then released a volley of laser fire in the direction of the telepath.

The slender man raised his arms and conjured up a force field, but oddly enough, he lost focus and it fell down long before he intended it to. One of the blasts caught him square in the chest, and sent him sprawling on the floor.

Psimon was shocked into silence as he wondered what had gone wrong, when a tranquilizer dart shot toward him. He threw up a partial field, which deflected it easily enough, but the projectile bounced off of the roof of the truck and embedded itself in his arm.

His eyes grew wide, and he swiftly yanked the dart out, but could still feel his thinking becoming more sluggish by the second.

"How unfortunate," a female voice purred. His angry gaze landed on Jinx, who held his precious package in her hand. The telepath chuckled in amusement, "Very clever. But that won't work twice." He pulled the pin from a teleportation grenade, and disappeared.

–

'What is this berry you seek?', Scarlet inquired of the sorceress. Raven gave her a ghost of a smile, and answered patiently enough, "It's an ingredient for my spell, but it is located on Expiry Isle." The dragon snorted, 'That region is full of large hunting creatures, hence the name.'

Raven nodded, "That's why I decided it would be wise to retrieve it while I had someone to help me." Elliot would have continued studiously ignoring the empath, but his head snapped over in her direction upon hearing this exchange. He realized that he would be putting his life on the line for a girl who wouldn't even remove his hated collar. How absurd. As aggression bubbled up inside him, he could feel his face contort into a humorless sneer.

Scarlet looked him in the eye, and spoke to only him, 'This girl does not trust you. Perhaps if you prove yourself to her, she shall remove that device from your neck.' He sighed silently, and then nodded at his companion. He had to admit, Scarlet's idea was worth a shot.

He had fully intended to bring Raven back with him when she removed the collar, though now that she had refused to do so, a more spiteful part of him was seriously considering leaving her behind if he ever got the chance. His frame shook with a soundless chuckle at the thought, which received a suspicious glare from said sorceress.

They continued their trek into the forest in silence, until they reached the expanse of water that divided the island from the region in which they lived. Elliot and Raven were prepared to swim across, when Scarlet stiffened and emitted a low growl from deep in her chest.

Her mental voice roared loudly in both of the teens' minds, 'Come no further, heathen! Or you shall be dealing with _ME_!'

Raven flinched, and rubbed her temples, "What was that about?" Elliot brought his finger to his lips, signaling for her to be quiet. Suddenly, they were both drenched with water as a gigantic green creature emerged from the depths of the ocean. Raven took a few steps back, and spoke with equal amounts of anxiety and admiration, "A sea serpent."

The monster roared threateningly, and reeled its massive head back in the manner of a snake about to strike.

Scarlet leaped from Elliot's shoulder, and launched herself toward the water. In the breadth of only a few seconds, the cat-sized dragon grew in size until she was roughly as large as Malchior had been. She roared fiercely as she crashed into the serpent and dug her teeth into its neck.

It ducked down into the the water, attempting to either drown her or force her to let go. The crimson reptile did nothing of the sort, and pulled the creature back out of the water before she shot out a jet of flame that severely burned the section of scales she held in her mouth.

The sea creature screeched in pain, and Scarlet released her death grip on its neck. It cowered down before her, and she roared in triumph, 'Begone, insolent creature!'

The serpent gratefully retreated into the dark abyss of the ocean, and Scarlet turned to face the two teens who stood speechlessly ashore. 'I will carry you both across in order to avoid more fighting than is necessary.' Elliot nodded blankly, still shocked at what had transpired before him.

The crimson dragon lifted off into the air, and grabbed each teen in her front claws before she took off toward the deadly island. She couldn't help but wonder whether a few disgusting berries were worth all of this trouble.

–

Robin had been on the receiving end of many a dirty look lately, and he had to admit that he deserved every bit of it. Even Starfire seemed to be less affectionate towards the Boy Wonder, and he could not seem to figure out how to make it right.

Robin reasoned that Jinx had quit of her own free will, and he could not apologize to her for his behavior if he had no clue where to find her. That detail didn't seem to matter much to his angry teammates, and though they still followed his orders, he sensed that they were reluctant to do so.

Beast Boy sat atop the roof, staring out at the crashing waves and the incoming storm clouds. He smiled to himself as he muttered, "Could really use a nice storm right about now."

He hoped there would be plenty of blinding lightening and earth-shaking thunder, as those things always served to clear his mind of unwanted worries. He heard Robin arrive and close the door behind him. The masked teen took a seat beside Beast Boy, who acknowledged him with a forced smile.

Robin sighed, and put his head in his hands. The green boy furrowed his brow as he realized how upset his leader was, and spoke softly, "I know it seems like I'm really ticked at you, but I'm actually really upset about Raven. She's been gone almost two months now, and we haven't come any closer to finding her. Plus we can't even lay a hand on Psimon. It's frustrating, and I'm sorry for taking it out on you."

Robin sucked in a deep breath, and let it out slowly, "I understand. I feel the same way. And... I guess I sort of blew a gasket when I had that disagreement with Jinx, huh?" Beast Boy chuckled nervously, "Definitely."

The masked hero rubbed his forehead before speaking again, "I'll try to fix it, I promise." Beast Boy placed a comforting hand on his leader's shoulder, "I'm sure it'll work out, Rob. I think she was having a bad day."

Robin sighed deeply, "I sure hope so. Er- that it'll work out, I mean."

–

After having fought off multiple carnivorous creatures, the trio arrived at a clearing that they deemed a good campsite. After lighting a fire, Scarlet shrank back down to the size of a cat, and resumed her place on Elliot's shoulder.

He gave her a funny look, and Raven stared at her thoughtfully, "That was impressive. Is that a unique skill?" Scarlet gazed back at her and replied matter-of-factly, 'All dragons have the ability to change their size'. Raven furrowed her brow, "Do you think dragons native to other dimensions lack that ability?" The red reptile shook her head, 'Dragons do not originate from other dimensions.'

Raven chuckled doubtfully, "Whatever you say. May I ask how old you are?" The dragon nodded, 'I have recently passed the halfway point of my first solar cycle. In our terms, I have recently reached adolescence, which is why I have gained the ability to shift my size.' Elliot gazed at her with appreciation in his eyes, while Raven nodded thoughtfully.

The dragon scoffed, 'Why do we need such a disgusting plant product, anyway? We are more likely to die on this wretched island than we are to find the bush you seek.' The sorceress sighed softly, "I know, but I have to keep trying to get home. I can't give up."

Kyd Wykkyd felt the urge to comfort her, and carefully placed a hand on her shoulder. She obviously missed her teammates. From what he had observed, they acted almost like a family unit. He'd never really had interpersonal relationships like that, but he imagined it must be hard to have those ties severed through no fault of your own. His red eyes met hers with a gaze that was meant to convey his sympathy.

Though the coloration of his irises was unsettling, the emotion behind it was reassuring. The purple-haired girl realized that, if he had his telepathic abilities, he may have been able to share whatever was on his mind.

On one hand, she was curious as to what he would say, but was still too suspicious of his motives to bring herself to remove his collar _yet._ Raven realized that she had mentally tacked on that last word to her thoughts, and chided herself for letting him get to her.

She looked away quickly, and the boy removed his hand from her shoulder. He then lay down on his side, pillowing his head on his arm. Scarlet climbed down from her perch on his shoulder, and cuddled into his stomach, much like she had the night before. He smiled and scratched her chin before he closed his eyes.

Raven could tell that he wasn't asleep yet, but she watched them from across the campfire, a contemplative expression on her face. She then lay down on her back, and stared up at the vast tropical canopy above her.

There were barely any stars visible through the dense leaves and branches. The crackle of the fire gave her something to listen to, rather than the snapping of twigs that signaled the presence of various nighttime animals that prowled nearby. She closed her eyes and drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

When she awoke in the morning, the dark-haired boy was gone. Eyes wide with surprise, Raven cursed herself for trusting him to help with her mission. She would have to brave these woods on her own, and these were even more treacherous than the ones on the mainland.

She muttered angrily to herself as she stomped around the burnt out campfire, when a sudden movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention.

She whirled around in time to see Elliot emerge from the trees, his black hair dripping wet, and two fish in hand. He gave her an innocent smile and sat the fish down on top of a piece of tree bark. Scarlet flapped furiously as she hovered in place above it, and cooked the fish with a stream of fire. She then darted back in the direction from whence she came.

The dark-haired boy offered the food to Raven, who accepted it awkwardly. The sorceress couldn't help but feel a bit foolish for assuming he had deserted her, and was glad to have the fish as an impediment to any possible conversation. He looked much less menacing without his cape and cowl, and she vaguely wondered if she had been premature with her judgment of the teen. Perhaps he wasn't evil after all.

She stared at her pallid hands, and then glanced over at the boy. She noted the grayish tinge of his skin and the resemblance it bore to her own coloration, and she almost asked if he were half demon as well.

She then decided that it would be unwise to reveal such a deep secret of hers to an enemy, and quelled her curiosity by concluding that he was probably so pale because he didn't get out often. The cafe back home must have been the only exception to his hermit-like tendencies, Raven noted with a slight smirk.

He noticed that she was staring at him, and raised an eyebrow with an expression that almost looked playful. Raven promptly rolled her eyes, pulled out her T-communicator and gazed at it wistfully.

An involuntary gasp escaped her lips as it was abruptly snatched out of her hand. When she looked up, Kyd Wykkyd was standing a few feet away, inspecting the object with mock interest. "That's mine!", she snapped angrily. He smirked devilishly and nodded his head once, as if agreeing with her statement, before he turned and marched in the opposite direction.

Raven growled her frustration as she leaped to her feet and pursued the thief. He laughed silently and dodged her snatches at the object in his hand. She reached the end of her patience, and launched a kick at the black haired boy's head, which he avoided with obvious ease, his ever-present smile growing in size. The sorceress began throwing punches, which he continued to effortlessly block and dodge.

She noted with great satisfaction that her opponent's breathing had become heavy. Her gratification was short-lived, however, as she noticed exertion begin to settle into her own limbs as well.

Both teens leaped apart, and stood battle-ready, their chests heaving with exhaustion. After a stretch of staring each other down, Wykkyd shot her a cheerful smile and extended his hand, in which her communicator rested.

She stepped forward and promptly snatched it away, turning her back to the boy.

In unison, both collapsed onto the ground, muscles aching from the workout. A small chuckle escaped from Raven's parted lips, and she spoke between pants, "That was...fun. I didn't notice...I'm so...out of shape."

The boy let out erratic puffs of air, which Raven assumed were actually a laugh. Her face grew solemn, and she inquired softly, "Have you always been unable to speak?" Elliot's face instantly hardened, and he jerked upright stiffly.

Her purple eyes widened as she recognized her error, and her expression took on a more embarrassed tone, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you." He shook his head, and she couldn't tell if he meant to reject her apology, tell her he wasn't offended, or answer her prior question.

He abruptly rose and stalked off in the direction Scarlet had gone almost an hour ago. He walked through the trees until he heard the rushing of the river, and headed toward the noise. When he arrived, Scarlet seemed to have been waiting for him, a pile of fish bones arranged neatly before her.

'What is the matter?', she inquired, concern coloring her mental voice. Elliot sighed and sat down beside her, thoughtfully fingering the collar around his neck. The red dragon huffed and placed her head on his lap, 'It would be good to know how to remove that device.'

The pallid teen nodded at her unhappily, and gently rested his hand on her head. They heard a rustling in the brush behind them, and Raven emerged, rubbing her arm nervously. She took a seat beside the other teenager, and offered him a stick.

With a bewildered expression, he took it. She gave him a small smile, and then spoke carefully, "Would you tell me your name?"

He gave her a blank look, as if it was a ridiculous question. She shook her head, "Well, I meant your _real_ name." Scarlet's head perked up, and she gazed at her companion expectantly. He deliberated for a few seconds, and then picked up the stick, tracing two words in the sand, 'Yours first.' The sorceress shrugged, "You already know it. Raven _is_ my real name."

He stared at her with distrust in his eyes, and she sighed. "Really, I promise. And... if we make it out of this place, I won't tell anyone yours."

The boy gazed at her, mulling it over. He then raised the stick and traced a single word into the sand. Raven's expression softened, and she spoke gently, "Elliot... that's a nice name. It suits you."

Scarlet's eyes sparked with satisfaction, before she closed them and drifted off to sleep. Her companion gathered her up in his arms and began to carry her back to their camp. The sorceress trailed behind him,

"I guess we'll resume our search when she wakes up."

* * *

**A/N: Short installment, but I suppose it's slightly eventful. The tension between Raven and Elliot is being addressed, at least.**

**I'd like to thank all of you for your wonderful reviews! You all made my day, so I decided I would go ahead and post up another chapter!**

**Later Days,**

**~Rose**


	10. Trust

**Chapter 10: Trust**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans**

* * *

Elliot scowled as he shoved another bramble aside, scratching his cheek along the way. Scarlet hissed as a vine suddenly lunged for her tail, and Raven knocked it aside with a tendril of magic.

Acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred, Kyd Wykkyd continued his trek into the the forest with a seemingly permanent frown set into his face. These treacherous expeditions into the living jungle had become the norm for the odd trio.

Elliot continued to stomp forward, when suddenly he was nearly snatched backward by a strong tug on the back of his shirt. He peeked over his shoulder to see that the sorceress's gray hand was balled into a fist around the fabric at the small of his back.

She jerked her chin pointedly to the left, in the direction of a notably misshapen looking tree. Its bark appeared to peel back at regular intervals, giving it a scaly appearance. He let loose a silent sigh, and rightly assumed that Raven had located the ingredient they had been searching for.

He noted the low position of the sun in the sky, and decided that they were lucky it hadn't taken them any longer to find it. As the sorceress scraped some of the crusty bark from the tree with her hunting knife and dropped it into a leather pouch, Elliot wondered how See-More and the rest of the HIVE 5 had been holding up.

They were probably in jail since they relied on him for their speedy escapes, he thought with a smirk.

The snap of a twig alerted him to the presence of danger right before a furry creature hurled itself through the air at him. He immediately dropped onto his back and planted his feet in its stomach, effectively using the monster's momentum to throw it to the ground behind him.

Kyd Wykkyd rolled to his feet, nocked and arrow, and shot the beast in the chest. It jerked a few times before growing still, but his reprieve was short-lived. Instantaneously, they were encircled by more of the hairy predators, leaving no room for escape.

Scarlet had already grown as large as the surrounding trees would allow, and Raven stood behind her, arms raised and obsidian energy dancing on her fingertips as she prepared to fight. Elliot cursed his rotten luck and nocked another arrow.

Something told him this would be _another_ long night.

–

Robin sighed as he scratched his head, wondering how he could possibly get the drop on the telepath. It was nearing three months since Raven had disappeared, and the Boy Wonder was stressed beyond belief.

They had still not figured out what Psimon was planning, and the telepath had been successfully evading him for so long, that he was debating on whether he should call in some help with this one. He shook his head as the thought of calling Batman crossed his mind, and he decided he would reserve that course of action for a last resort.

He could only imagine how Bruce would hold it over his head if he came crawling back to the Cave with a case he couldn't crack. He shook his head stubbornly, and sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. Starfire entered timidly, and closed the door behind her, "Robin, is this a bad time?"

He shook his head at her, "Not at all, Star!" She beamed at him joyfully and pulled up a chair beside him, "You are doing the 'investigating'?" The Boy Wonder nodded his head, "Yes, but I can't seem to figure anything out."

The alien princess gazed at him with a thoughtful expression on her face, before she once again broke out in a smile, "Perhaps you require the 'winding down'! We could venture to the mall of shopping, or take 'the walk'!"

Robin smiled back at her, as her cheerfulness began to affect him, "A walk sounds great right about now."

–

(_several days later_)

Raven finished reciting her enchantment within the circle of ingredients that she, Elliot, and Scarlet had gathered, and a large glowing portal sprang forth from thin air. Traces of hope sparked in her eyes, and she looked back to Elliot with excitement.

He stepped forward, with the little dragon perched on his left shoulder, and the two teens stood side-by-side. Raven shared a look with her mute acquaintance, and sucked in a breath of air, "Well, this is it."

The dark-haired teen nodded his agreement, and both of them slowly stepped into the portal. A sea of lilac seemed to wash over them. The sensation was pleasurable at first, but the warm fog quickly became a little too cozy.

It seemed like the fog was constricting around their bodies, threatening to drown them. It felt like they were slammed into an invisible wall, and then they were rushing backward through the choking purple smoke. Suddenly, they were all dumped onto the hard ground, coughing and wheezing violently.

Raven sluggishly pulled herself up onto her elbows and looked around at her surroundings. Upon realizing where she was, she slumped back down to the floor in defeat.

They were still in her cave, and their wild expeditions for ingredients were for naught. She growled loudly as she slammed her fist into the rocky ground, "Another failed spell! We almost _died_ trying to get those leaves, and we ended up right back here again."

Elliot sighed silently, and stared at the ceiling as he recalled just how _many_ times they had almost died trying to acquire some odd ingredient for a spell.

Suddenly, Raven was beside him, her eyes glowing a ghastly white. He backed away in surprise at her sudden aggressive stance, and she raised her right hand ominously. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

The collar around his neck became encased in black energy, and Scarlet growled a warning at the sorceress.

Raven clenched her hand into a fist, and the collar exploded into tiny fragments around him. He gasped soundlessly as he realized what had just transpired.

He simply stared at her in shock, trying to process her actions. His hand flew to his collar-less neck, and he beamed at her gratefully. She stood over him, with her arms crossed, "You said you don't need a spell to travel from one dimension to the next."

Elliot nodded at her solemnly, and rose to a standing position. Scarlet alighted on his shoulder, and wrapped her tail around his arm as she always did.

'I need to retrieve my cape and cowl,' he stated with a mental voice that was equal parts dark and gentle, before he began walking toward the mouth of the cave. Raven followed silently, and created a round disc below their feet. "Where to?", she inquired obligingly. 'The outskirts of my camp,' he replied in a murmuring tone.

She transported them to the place the boy had designated, and lowered them all to the ground. Elliot then took off toward his camp at a brisk jog, and the teenage girl kept pace with him easily. When they arrived at the edge of his camp, Elliot quickly shot up a nearby tree, and perched on one of the branches.

He then reached into a hole in the bark, and retrieved his infamous costume. Scarlet fluttered down from his shoulder, and alighted on the ground beside Raven. Elliot pulled the cowl down over his face, grinning delightedly; the teenager then whirled the cape around himself and disappeared into thin air.

Scarlet looked around, waiting for him to reappear, while Raven suspected that he had left them. There was a tap on her shoulder from behind, and upon meeting his blood red eyes, she sighed in relief.

The little dragon lunged at his chest, knocking him to the ground. 'Tell me my name!', she exclaimed excitedly. He grinned at her, and spoke once again, 'Scarlet'.

The crimson dragon nodded her approval, and stated simply, 'I like it'. Raven smiled in spite of herself, and thought that it was quite a fitting name for the fiery reptile. Wykkyd rose, and gripped the edge of his cloak, offering his hand to Raven.

She took it, and found herself enveloped in the darkness of his cape. The cold, damp air seemed to chill her to the bone, and she gripped Elliot's hand tightly as they seemed to rapidly fall downward. She could see that his red eyes were unconcerned, so she knew this was normal.

Suddenly, they stopped their descent haltingly, and Wykkyd's expression took on a tinge of surprise, informing Raven that _this_ was _not_ normal. The teens were instantly rocketed upward through the darkness, as if they were bouncing off of a trampoline. They reappeared in the forest about eight feet in the air, and fell to the ground clumsily.

The sorceress stood up and rubbed her sore bum, "Well that was...interesting." Elliot stared back at her incredulously, 'It didn't work...'

Raven shrugged, unsurprised, "I thought it might not, but I figured it was worth a shot." He tilted his head at her, and she sighed, "There must be some barrier in place to keep anyone from escaping."

Kyd Wykkyd hung his head sadly and trudged back toward the sorceress's cave. Upon arriving, Scarlet sparked a fire, and both teenagers took their usual seats around it as night fell. Raven focused on the full moons above, and listened to the howling of the mutant wolves outside.

She then turned her gaze to Elliot, who was staring into the fire with a troubled expression. She cleared her throat nervously, realizing that, for the first time, he would be able to answer her questions. The sorceress decided to start small, "What are you thinking about?"

He shrugged enigmatically, keeping his eyes trained on the flames. She raised an eyebrow, "For someone who wanted to speak, you're not much good for conversation," He gave her a small smile and nodded his head.

The girl watched him intensely, "Hm...so you prefer not to talk?" He quickly nodded his agreement, and gestured for her to go on. She seemed surprised, and replied questioningly, "What do you want me to talk about?"

He shrugged again, and she frowned in annoyance, "Fine. I'm going to sleep."

–

The Boy Wonder sat in his regular spot, mulling over the fact that Raven had now been gone three months. The small television in the crime lab was tuned to the news channel, and Robin often glanced at it out of habit. He cringed at the thought of asking for help, but for once, it seemed that he was really in over his head.

Whatever was going on was something big; he could feel it. He lifted up his communicator, and punched in the code for the Batcave. As his finger hovered over the 'call' button, the TV screen suddenly flickered as if it were changing channels, and the telepath's face appeared. Robin's eyes grew wide beneath his mask as he turned his attention to the screen.

Psimon chuckled darkly on-screen, and spoke in a threateningly calm voice, "This is a message to the people of the United States. I will shortly become the leader of your world, and I would like to let you know not to resist. You see, this message is currently being delivered worldwide in different languages, to ensure there is no confusion. -"

The Boy Wonder ran out the door and into the Common Room, barking out an order before he had even fully entered the room, "Cyborg! Trace that message!" The cybernetic teen was tapping away at the computer keyboard, "Already on it! Signal is coming from right outside of town."

Psimon's voice continued to resonate from the rather large TV display, "-there will be consequences for any political figures that withhold their resignation. That is all, for now." The Boy Wonder narrowed his eyes beneath his mask,

"Titans, go!"

–

**A/N: So the collar is off, and they still failed to escape the Chaos Plane. I'm sure your theories just flew out the window. ;)**

**Wow! Six reviews on the last chapter! Thanks so much guys, I really appreciate it!**

**Also, I'd like to thank terminalschizo for checking out thatwykkydkid tumblr! (That's where I put up my character designs and the cover of the story)**

**Feel free to let me know what you think!**

**Later Days!**

**~Rose**


	11. Uncharacteristic

**Chapter 11: Uncharacteristic**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans**

* * *

In the two weeks that Kyd Wykkyd had been able to use his powers again, his methods of communication had not changed much at all. It seemed that he rarely used his telepathic abilities to speak, and Raven irritably wondered why he had missed them so much in the first place.

They sat in a clearing around a fire as the sun went down, and the sorceress stared absently at the stars above her, wondering if her friends missed her half as much as she missed them. Suddenly a smooth mental voice invaded the silence, 'You seem upset'.

She faced Elliot, surprised that he had spoken, "I have a lot on my mind." He gazed at her with interest, 'Would you like to talk about it?'

Her initial reaction was to decline, but she realized that this was a rare opportunity to get Elliot talking, and decided to take it. "I miss home. I miss my friends, and...I wonder if they're looking for me," she trailed off at the end. Kyd Wykkyd frowned, 'I'm sure they are. The Titans seem very loyal.'

Raven nodded and stared off into the distance, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. Wykkyd's mind strayed to memories of his dysfunctional team. He would be lying if he said they were more pleasant to be around than Raven and Scarlet. He didn't miss the food fights and TV hogging. In fact, he didn't miss television at all.

She furrowed her brow, "Do you mind if I ask what your team had to do with Psimon?" He shrugged, 'He had this crazy plan to take over the world by controlling the minds of metahumans. Psimon double-crossed Gizmo, so he showed us the list of people the telepath wanted to brainwash. We tried to steal the parts to his amplifier to keep him from controlling us.'

Raven rubbed her temples slowly, "So we were actually on the same side. Interesting." Kyd Wykkyd nodded, a bright smile in place, 'We told ourselves that we were being selfish, but I think deep down we knew we were playing hero.'

Raven gazed at him innocently, "What's wrong with playing hero?" His smile transformed into a grim smirk, 'It's not who we are.' She pursed her lips, "It's not who the HIVE 5 are, or it's not who _you_ are?" He shrugged, 'Does the distinction matter?'

Raven nodded affirmatively, and he mulled it over silently, 'I'm not a hero.' She pursued the question further, "Why not?" Elliot's jaw tightened, 'I can't be.'

After a slight pause, his expression became smug, 'Why don't you ask me what you really want to know?' The sorceress grew quiet before she continued. "Were you born unable to speak?", Raven asked cautiously, keeping her eyes on the campfire.

Wykkyd shook his head.

"I thought so." After a slight pause, she continued, "What happened to you?"

Kyd smirked grimly, 'I talked too much'.

Raven tilted her head to the side questioningly, and Elliot followed up by explaining, 'My father always hated me. My best guess is that it was because of some prejudice against my mother. He used to beat me in his drunken stupors... I was nine years old. One night, I asked one too many questions about my absent mother, and he slit my throat with his favorite pocket knife.'

Elliot absentmindedly traced the path of the scar on his throat, and the corners of his lips twitched upward in a grim smile, 'Shortly after waking up in the hospital, I was removed from my father's custody, and began to train for my imminent revenge. I used that very same pocket knife to cut out his tongue about five years ago, after which, I adopted the name Kyd Wykkyd.'

Scarlet gazed at him quizzically, and he explained quickly, 'Wicked was last thing he ever called me.' He shrugged nonchalantly, 'It seemed fitting'.

Raven's eyes were wide with shock, "Very..."

Elliot's smirk faltered when he noticed the girl's expression, and he spoke nervously, 'I probably should have kept that last part to myself.'

Scarlet snorted her amusement, 'Nonsense, it was brilliant!'

Raven raised an eyebrow at them, "You two are quite a pair."

They sat in silence for a while, simply enjoying the sounds of nature around them, mutant or otherwise. 'Any more questions?', the pale boy inquired. Raven glanced skyward for a few seconds as she thought about it very seriously, and then she turned her gaze to him once more, "Why did you become a villain?"

Kyd Wykkyd shot her a smile that was equal parts vulnerable and dark, 'It's hard to fight your demons sometimes.' The sorceress froze in response, unable to move a muscle. She sat staring at him, not bothering to formulate words. His brow furrowed as he noticed her slight discomfort at his words, and studied the girl silently.

After a few seconds, Raven forced out a few words, "What did you say...about demons?" Wykkyd frowned in confusion, 'It's hard to fight them.' Raven remained stiff as a board for a few more minutes, before she slowly relaxed and let out a soft chuckle, "I thought you were about to tell me you were related to one."

She noticed that Elliot still wore his former expression of confusion, and offered him a reassuring glance. The boy raised an eyebrow at her, 'I didn't say I wasn't.'

Her face twitched, as if fighting off any form of expression.

Elliot was not one to give in to feelings of awkwardness, and thus he did not feel uncomfortable very often. Sadly enough, in this particular situation, it seemed to be practically unavoidable.

Raven slowly got onto her hands and knees, and crawled toward him. The cowled teen remained still as she came closer, and sat down across from him, close enough that their knees were almost touching. She timidly extended her pale hand, and grasped the edge of his cowl with her forefingers before quickly jerking it off. Elliot narrowed his eyes at her, slightly annoyed at her odd behavior.

Raven roughly placed her hands on the sides of his head and began to rotate it up and around as she seemingly inspected his features. Elliot made a sour face and jerked his head away from her, which she didn't seem to take offense to.

She leaned backward, and thankfully out of his personal space, before she spoke, "So you're half demon too? I should have known; it's the eyes that give it away." The dark-haired boy lightly frowned at her, 'Not half. I believe my mother may have been half, but I can't be certain.'

Raven frowned at him incredulously, "So you're saying that's why you're a villain? Pretty weak reasoning, if you ask me." Elliot crossed his arms and looked away from the girl, reminding her of a child, 'Well, I _didn't_ ask you. And why do you assume I was talking about literal demons?'

Raven harrumphed and mimicked his current childish position, "Then what's your real reason, _Elliot_?"

He leaned toward her, so that they were almost nose-to-nose,

'I do what I want.'

The sorceress rolled her eyes, unimpressed with his answer. The boy resumed his former upright position, and smirked at her impishly,

'It just so happens to be against the law a lot of the time.'

–

Everything seemed extremely hazy to Robin, who couldn't seem to snap out of his funk. The feeling was similar to waking up after a long nap, and being unsure of where one was, regardless of how familiar the environment was.

He rolled out of his bed, swaying a bit as he stood, and hobbled out to the hallway. He made a mental note to himself that he was indeed in the Tower, and tried to remember how to get to the place he knew he should go. What was the name of it again?

The Communal Area?

The Mutual Space?

The Boy Wonder roughly rubbed his hands over his face, and was startled to realize that he was not in his uniform. He was wearing bland cotton pajama pants and a plain white t-shirt. The most shocking thing about his attire was the fact that he was not wearing his mask or utility belt.

He knew that those things were important, but could not pinpoint why he was missing them. Robin retraced his steps and arrived back in his room, where he threw open his closet. He grunted in frustration, "Empty."

He looked into the mirror, and ran his fingertips over his bare face. It had been so long since he had taken off his mask, that he hadn't noticed how his features had changed. His face was framed by his un-gelled messy hair, and had only small traces of childish roundness.

His cheekbones had become more prominent, but what surprised him the most were his eyes. The sky blue coloring of his irises did nothing to soften the cold, steely, gaze that greeted him. Though he was surprised, his expression did not betray any emotion.

He couldn't help but to think that he looked just like...

"I'm going crazy," Robin muttered to himself, as he turned away from the mirror.

"I need to find the... place I can't remember the name of."

He then marched out of his spotless room with a determined look in his eyes.

–

Raven ducked as a red laser beam buzzed through the air where her head had been. Her pallid face remained impassive as her female adversary advanced, crimson energy dancing in the air around her.

The woman had deep black hair, pale blue skin, and sharp features that made her resemble a cat. As the morning breeze tousled her violet hair, the sorceress focused on the rocks beneath her feet, and they lifted up from the ground as if gravity had momentarily been turned off.

The obsidian coated earth shot toward the blue skinned woman at breakneck speed, but were knocked off course by a surge of laser energy.

Raven dodged another blast, and was forced to backpedal as the woman's partner rushed her. He was a huge male creature with thick muscled arms and horns protruding from the sides of his massive head.

The empath began to doubt her decision to engage the super criminals, but she couldn't very well leave them to plunder the small village she was passing through.

She scanned the area for more projectiles, but realized that the only things around were the bystanders and their houses. The sorceress couldn't very well use either of those things, and was forced to attack only with her dark energy.

White light emanated from her eyes as she slowly lifted her arms above her head and then slammed them down as if slapping a tabletop. Giant black energy hands copied her movements exactly, slamming down on the man, who used his brutish strength to fight back against them.

The blue skinned woman used Raven's preoccupation to enter a nearby house and reemerge with a basket of bread, a distraught woman trailing behind her with a child in tow. The sorceress grunted her frustration, and redoubled her efforts.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," she shouted as the black claws slapped him to the side, allowing her to focus her attention on the other thief. Raven sunk into the ground and reappeared in front of the woman, who skidded to a stop, the basket swinging on her arm. A sneer spread across her azure face as her narrowed eyes began to dance with scarlet energy.

The sorceress struck the woman with a powerful roundhouse, knocking her head to the side as the red laser fired. Raven realized too late that in the path of the blast stood a child holding a teddy bear.

She blinked, and registered nothing but scorch marks on the path. In an instant, Kyd Wykkyd had appeared before the crowd, dropping the child on her bottom next to a shocked mother.

He disappeared once again and materialized on the back of the horned creature who had been trying to sneak up on Raven.

Elliot flittered in and out of existence as he viciously assaulted the gigantic criminal, and within about ten minutes, the man was out cold.

The ebony haired boy rubbed his knuckles, which were rather busted up from his battle. Raven finished off her opponent and turned to Kyd Wykkyd, who was being thanked by a tearful mother.

He was clearly uncomfortable with the praise, and backed away nervously before teleporting away. The sorceress offered the stolen basket of bread to its rightful owner, who invited them to dinner as a show of gratitude.

"Thank you. My friend may not come, but I will definitely try to be there," the sorceress assured her before teleporting back to their camp.

She arrived to find Scarlet still asleep beside the remnants of their fire from the night before. Elliot sat on a boulder on the edge of their camp, massaging his battered knuckles as he stared out at the river.

Raven took a seat on a rock next to him, and gestured at his hands. He sighed as he spread his fingers carefully, 'It was like punching a wall.'

The grey skinned sorceress remained impassive and took his damaged hands in hers; a blue energy eased the burn and closed the open flesh.

"You saved her," she stated simply.

Kyd Wykkyd scrambled in silence, 'Well...I had to do _something._..' Raven nodded, "I'm glad you did." She released his hands and fell silent for a few minutes as they both gazed out at the river, watching the giant fish leap out over the water.

"A woman from the village invited us to dinner," the empath rasped. Elliot raised an eyebrow, and she shrugged, "She wants to say thank you."

Kyd Wykkyd grimaced and raised a finger to protest, but the girl interrupted him, "You should come."

The tone of her voice made it sound like more of an order than a suggestion. 'Why don't we vote on it? If Scarlet would rather hunt, then we stay behind,' he offered hopefully. The dragon stirred at the sound of her name, and yawned thunderously.

'Vote on what?', she inquired. "A woman in the village asked us to eat dinner with her as thanks for saving the town this morning. Elliot wants to vote on whether we should all go or not," Raven explained.

'I would very much enjoy meeting new people,' Scarlet replied, excitement evident in her mental voice. Elliot sighed and hung his head in defeat. Raven stood and placed her hands on her hips triumphantly,

"That settles it."

–

Cyborg wandered around the familiar room, feeling quite odd. He stubbed his toe on the corner of his work table, and held his breath as he hopped around on his uninjured foot.

His eyes remained squeezed shut as he uttered a very colorful word, and all of a sudden he froze in surprise. "That shouldn't hurt...", he murmured to himself, as he reluctantly opened his eyes.

He was greeted with a sight that would have knocked the wind out of him, had he not been so surprised already. He was staring at a bare human foot. His own foot.

He promptly stood up and pinched the soft skin on his left arm, before he bolted over to find a mirror. When he found said mirror, he gazed into it for what felt like an eternity.

One would assume that waking up fully human would overwhelm the teenager with joy, but at that moment, he was just overwhelmed. A steady trickle of doubts seemed to seep into his mind as he stared at his reflection, and soon enough, he felt like he was drowning in them.

Ever since his heart-to-heart with Starfire, he had become comfortable with his cybernetic body parts. He didn't miss being human anymore, and now that it seemed he was human again, he had mixed feelings about it.

He realized that being half machine had become part of who he was, and having that stripped away made him feel rather hollow. Cyborg had thought he was confident enough in himself to not let his appearance define him, and it frightened him to learn that this was not the case.

He had not grown as much as he thought he had, and it made him question everything about himself. His real name was not Cyborg.

Was it?

* * *

**A/N:** **I was looking at the word count on my stories, and I realized that this one has already passed every other story I've written. Strange, because it didn't seem that much longer to me.**

**Based on the reviews, it seems that you guys are enjoying the story! I'm glad to be of service. :)**

**~Rose**


	12. The Rift

**Chapter 12: The Rift**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans.**

* * *

Elliot trailed behind his grey companion as they entered the small house, a jittery Scarlet sitting on his shoulder. The woman who had cooked the meal for them invited them to take their seats while they waited for the other guests to arrive. The greying woman took a seat across from them while her son played with little wooden cars in the floor.

"Thank you both for stopping those criminals this morning! I don't know what I would have done without that bread for dinner," she exclaimed joyfully.

Raven suddenly looked concerned about the woman's obviously sparse sustenance, "We don't mean to impose, we'll hunt for ourselves later." The woman shook her head, "No, no, no! You aren't imposing. We all came together to put on this dinner for you."

Elliot raised an eyebrow, 'We?'

The woman nodded and motioned for them to follow her out the back door.

It seemed that the entire village had assembled outside of the woman's house. They sat around wooden tables and offered bright smiles to the teens and dragon as they emerged from the house. A long buffet style table displayed various meat and vegetable dishes, along with assorted breads and cakes. In the candlelight, the scene seemed nearly surreal.

Scarlet fluttered over to the empath's shoulder, asking various questions about eating conventions. Elliot followed Raven in a daze, when suddenly something warm wrapped itself around his right leg.

He froze and his gaze landed on a small blonde girl who had latched onto him. The young mother approached with a shy smile, "She wanted to say thank you."

The little girl pulled away with a giggle and beamed at Elliot before offering him a sheet of paper with a scribbly drawing on it.

The dark-haired boy gingerly accepted it and folded it up before placing it in his pocket. The tiny blonde lifted her arms up, and his eyes flickered over to the mother with uncertainty. The petite woman replied, "She wants you to pick her up."

Elliot awkwardly placed his hands under the child's arms and hoisted her up to his hip, where she once again latched on with a vise-like grip.

As he gazed out at the crowd of people, he unintentionally locked eyes with Raven, who was staring back at him with a smug expression plastered across her pale face.

Elliot flushed and turned to return the child to her mother, but she had already gotten food and was sitting down, so he decided he would wait until she finished eating.

He chanced another look at the sorceress, and realized that she was still watching him with a taunting twinkle in her eye.

'I'm never going to hear the end of this,' he muttered.

–

Starfire stirred in her bed, and groggily rolled over onto her stomach, pulling the sheets over her head. She sighed as her alarm suddenly blared, and she gave it a solid whack, fully intending to shatter it to pieces.

She slipped back into a nice slumber, when the clock suddenly blared again.

She shot upright in her bed, and glared furiously in the direction of the noise, intending to punish the tiny machine for its insolence with her destructive eye beams.

Nothing happened.

The alien princess narrowed her eyes and tried again, but the bleating continued. Suddenly, the color scheme of her room caught her attention, or rather, lack of color scheme.

Everything that was supposed to be pink was black instead, and small white accents were the only things that broke up the darkness. She catapulted herself off of the ebony bed, twisting in the air to point herself toward the door.

She landed on her stomach with a loud thud, smacking her forehead on the floor in the process.

The carpet of her room somewhat broke her fall, but the shock of hitting the ground kept her pinned in that position. Starfire slowly lifted up her head, and thought that maybe the lights had gone out, before she realized that her hair was in her face. She pushed it out of the way, and shrieked loudly as she noticed that it was, in fact, not red.

The girl scrambled to her feet and rushed over to her mirror, where she was greeted by a human-looking version of...Blackfire?

–

_(many days later)_

Raven watched impassively as Scarlet chased off a wolf similar to the one that had attacked her when she had first arrived in this dimension. The red dragon snorted her amusement, and then turned on the sorceress with a playful twinkle in her eye.

"Oh no. Scarlet. Don't-"

The large dragon pounced before the violet-haired girl could finish her sentence, and pinned her down easily. A rumbling laugh sounded from deep within her chest, and Raven sighed in frustration, knowing she would feel the bruises in the morning.

The crimson lizard leaned her head down toward the sorceress, and allowed her forked tongue to loll out carelessly.

Raven's eyes widened as she understood what was about to happen, and began to struggle fruitlessly against the heavy claws that pinned her to the ground.

Scarlet's tongue was only inches from Raven's face, when Elliot appeared out of thin air, and tied the dragon's mouth shut with a vine. He then alighted on top of her head, after which, she attempted to buck him off.

The dark haired boy held on for dear life, smiling broadly all the while. Scarlet took a few steps backward, which was all the sorceress needed to escape from her trap. Raven rolled to her feet, smirked as she created giant claws of dark energy, and used them to pin Scarlet's flailing wings to her sides.

Kyd Wykkyd disappeared, and reappeared to wrap another vine around her feet. When he tightened the knot, she lost her balance, crashing to the ground with an earth-shaking thump. Raven climbed up Scarlet's side, and stood atop her massive shoulder triumphantly.

Elliot appeared alongside her, and held up a hand for a high five, which she returned as enthusiastically as was typical to her demeanor. The boy did not take offense to her lack of excitement, as he hadn't expected much in the first place.

Scarlet huffed derisively, 'I allowed you to subdue me. I did not wish to shame you by delivering such a crushing defeat. You should both be grateful for my generosity,' Elliot shrugged, a teasingly doubtful expression on his face. Raven furrowed her brow, "Funny. It sure looked like Elliot got the drop on you."

'That is what I wished you to think,' she retorted.

Elliot shook with silent laughter, pointing his finger at Scarlet as if he were a gloating five-year-old. Raven frowned at his tactlessness, and crossed her arms across her chest disapprovingly. He noticed her expression and nudged her arm with his elbow, attempting to show her the humor of the situation.

The red dragon gazed at the empath expectantly, and Raven used her dark energy to cut the vines that restrained her. Kyd Wykkyd flung himself down onto Scarlet's neck, and stretched out his arms in what would have been a hug, had she not been about four times bigger than he.

Scarlet made a gravelly noise that resembled a cat's purr, though she would have rejected such a comparison vehemently. Raven allowed a ghost of a smile to touch her features, and sat down cross-legged on the dragon's large shoulder, gently scratching the ruby-like scales with her fingertips.

She closed her eyes, enjoying the cool night air and resonating vibrations of Scarlet's purrs. Suddenly she felt a warm pressure against her head and around her shoulders, almost as if she was being squeezed.

Her violet eyes flew open, and she was greeted with a mass of black hair clouding the vision of her right eye. She blinked in surprise, still not quite understanding why she was suddenly so warm, when something finally clicked, and she realized that she was being hugged.

She scrunched her face in agitation, about to yell at the boy, when he quickly released her and gave her a smile large enough that it rivaled one of Beast Boy's signature grins.

Elliot's was an expression full of child-like innocence and sheer joy, and the sorceress found herself entirely disarmed. Raven wondered how such a bad person could have such endearing characteristics in his grin. She shook her head, as if to shake away her thoughts.

"I think it's time to sleep," she stated with finality.

She, Elliot, and Scarlet had been traveling together since their final failed attempt at returning home. It had been decided that, since they no longer had any hope of escaping the death trap of a dimension, they might as well know their way around their new home.

So far, they had discovered numerous tiny villages of non-criminals, and various camps of intergalactic outlaws. If Raven were being honest with herself, she would say that she had formed quite a bond with the teleporter and his companion.

The large lizard curled up on the ground, and nestled her head atop her talons. She then lifted up her left wing, and Elliot climbed beneath it, propping his back up against her warm stomach. The empath did not enjoy close proximity with anyone, but as the frigid wind began to blow, she knew this would be another night when she would need all the heat she could get, regardless of its source.

Raven grudgingly approached Scarlet, and sat down beside Kyd Wykkyd, crossing her arms across her chest. The dragon lowered her wing, closing the teens in a red tent. Right before she drifted off, Raven thought it was odd that a giant lizard would be warm-blooded, unlike its smaller Earth counterparts.

Most days, when the empath awoke in the mornings, she found herself lying on her side with Elliot's back braced against hers. She had assumed that the boy was used to sleeping with his back against the wall, so that it would be more difficult to sneak up on him.

Raven never worried about strategy when she slept, which brought her to conclude that a life of crime would be rather uncomfortable.

When the girl drifted back into consciousness, she realized that her nose and fingertips were nearly numb, though the rest of her body felt very warm. Raven was immediately sure that something wasn't right.

Her lilac eyes fluttered open, and instead of being greeted by the tent formed by the membrane of Scarlet's wing, she saw trees. She began to wonder where the dragon had gone, when she became aware of the arm draped around her waist and the soft warm breath on the back of her neck.

Raven stiffened, and was fully prepared to snatch the boy's arm right off of his body.

Luckily for Elliot, she realized that it may have been unintentional. It had been very cold last night, and both unconscious teens were probably searching for warmth.

The sorceress slid out from under Elliot's arm, taking care not to disturb him. She spotted Scarlet sleeping a few feet away, and determined that the dragon must have shifted in her sleep, leaving them unprotected against the cold.

Raven sighed lightly, and pulled out the map she had been making while they traveled. A woman in the last town had mentioned something about a gorgeous outcropping that was described as magical and forbidden, and the sorceress could not seem to quell her curiosity about the place.

Raven hadn't realized she'd been staring impatiently at Elliot while he slept, until his bright red eyes flickered open uneasily. When he realized that he had awoken because the girl was watching him, he shot her a peeved glare.

The sorceress could only assume that he had been sleeping very soundly, but could not find it in her to feel remorse for disturbing him. "I want to go to that outcropping today," she stated coolly.

Elliot sat up and shrugged. Raven's expression switched to one of mild chagrin, "I mean, if you didn't have something you wanted to do first."

The black-haired teen smiled cheerfully and shook his head to assure her that this was not the case. He did pointedly look back at the dragon, however, and Raven understood that he meant they should wait for Scarlet to wake up on her own. The empath would not argue with his suggestion of letting the fire-breathing lizard get her beauty rest.

Elliot stood, grabbed his bow and arrow, and headed for the dense brush. Raven responded by going off to get firewood to cook whatever he brought back for them. Scarlet always did her own hunting, so it was unnecessary to hunt for her as well.

Raven did not particularly enjoy hunting, because in the back of her mind, she felt sorry for attacking a defenseless creature. She also knew that she had to eat, and did it because it was necessary. Why someone would do such a thing for fun, she would never understand.

Kyd Wykkyd suddenly appeared beside her, a frazzled expression plastered across his face. He sent out a rather loud telepathic screech, which caused Scarlet to roll to her feet with a muffled snarl. Raven opened her mouth to ask what had happened, but Elliot placed a finger against her lips to silence her. The boy grabbed Raven by her wrist and yanked her over to where Scarlet sat.

Elliot gave her a mental command, and she shrank down to the size of a cat before fluttering up to perch on his shoulder. He then wrapped his cloak around them all, and teleported them about halfway to the outcropping Raven wanted to visit.

Upon their arrival, Wykkyd's breathing was heavy. He stumbled forward a bit, and the sorceress caught him out of a feeling of obligation to help. Raven frowned, "What's wrong?"

He grimaced, 'Too far.'

The slight shift in her expression betrayed her confusion, and he explained further, 'If I teleport too far, it takes too much energy.'

Suddenly, the ground began to rush toward Elliot's face, leaving him no time to throw his arms out in an effort to catch himself.

"_That_ was for being an idiot. Care to explain what you were thinking?", Raven rasped in an almost motherly tone.

Kyd Wykkyd groggily lifted his face off of the ground, wiping the dirt off as well as possible. He let out a silent sigh before speaking, 'Dragon hunters. They recognized me and remembered that I travel with Scarlet. They were coming for her.'

The empath nodded, "You teleported carelessly because you were afraid." His blood red eyes narrowed, 'Fear is for the weak'.

Raven crossed her arms and shook her head sadly, "No, it's natural to worry about your friends. Fear is nothing to be ashamed of." Scarlet nudged him with her nose, 'She is correct. It is only shameful when one allows fear to control them.'

He huffed in frustration before allowing his head to collapse back into the dirt, knowing that this would be a particularly arduous day.

He couldn't help but to wonder why he ended up stuck with the two most stubborn females in existence.

Perhaps fate had a twisted sense of humor.

–

Starfire flinched as a loud crash resonated through the halls, causing the walls and floor to quake. Her first reaction was to confront whoever was creating such a racket, and demand that they be silent while she figured out what was going on.

Her purple eyes grew wide as the stark reality of her situation sunk in. Her newfound vulnerability left her winded, and the icy claws of fear began to sink into her mind.

Another bone-jarring thud shook the ground beneath her feet, and a far-off roar seemed to cut her to the core. Her eyes grew wide as her anxiety set in, and she stood frozen to the spot.

All of this was new to her, having been born a Tamaranean powerhouse, she was unused to worrying about self-preservation.

In a short amount of time, her entire world had been flipped upside down.

Suddenly, the former redhead clenched her fists tightly, letting out a hiss through her gritted teeth. She was Starfire, princess of Tamaran, and she would not let something as insignificant as losing her powers turn her into a coward.

The human girl stormed out of her room, heading straight for the source of the strange noises.

–

Robin heard the noises too, and automatically began to run in that general direction. He had to defend this place. He was not entirely sure why, but the felt the need to do so.

As he rounded a corner that he was convinced should have led to another hallway, he was confronted by a full-length mirror.

His clouded brain scrambled to make sense of the situation, when he was suddenly floored by the sight in the mirror.

He immediately began to back away, a sense of dread seeping into his soul.

Robin then did something he hadn't done in a very long time. He turned tail and ran as fast as his feet would carry him.

He heard nothing but the pounding of his heart in his ears as he rounded corner after corner.

Every so often, the teen would find himself skidding to a stop moments before hitting another mirror. When he finally stopped to catch his breath, he realized he was hopelessly lost.

Another thunderous racket echoed through the halls, reminding him of his original intentions of locating the source. He sighed and shook his head, as if he could shake his thoughts into submission.

He needed to figure out what was going on, and that wouldn't happen if he spent the rest of his life running away. The Boy Wonder obstinately began his march toward the mysterious cacophony of noises.

–

Raven and Kyd Wykkyd sat around their campfire while they roasted rodents Scarlet had caught for them. The sorceress turned her stick over in her hand in order to cook the other side of the meat, as the dark-haired boy pulled the chunk of meat off of his branch and popped it into his mouth.

The red dragon sat staring at the flames, seemingly lost in thought. Raven wondered what it was that dragons thought about, and realized that her only interaction with a fire-breathing reptile other than Scarlet was not a pleasant experience.

She usually dreaded thinking of the dragon Malchior, since thoughts of him usually brought out negative emotions. Those were often much more difficult to suppress, as many of them were rather violent.

Raven gazed into the flames intensely, imagining all of her rage being burned away in the campfire. As her emotions flickered into nonexistence, billowing out with the smoke, she felt a small measure of peace permeate her being.

Raven sighed in relief as her tension melted away.

She turned to Scarlet and rasped, "You said that dragons don't originate from other dimensions. They most definitely do. I had an deplorable run-in with a dragon on Earth not too long ago." Scarlet gave her own version of a laugh, 'Then your dragon must have been one of the banished.'

The sorceress lifted an eyebrow, "Banished? What do you mean?"

Scarlet sighed, 'According to legend, several hundred years ago, the Elder Council of Dragons used to banish our criminals through what they called the Rift. Some speculated that it led to other dimensions, and some believed it to be instantaneous death.'

Raven's eyes sparked to life with hope, "This Rift. Do you know where it is?"

Scarlet seemed to be confused as to why such information was of interest to the sorceress, but continued anyway, 'Of course. We have all been there before. The Rift is on Expiry Isle, one of the most inhospitable places in all of the Chaos Plane.'

The sorceress smirked at Kyd Wykkyd, who was entirely bewildered as to why the girl's expression was so smug. He furrowed his brow as if to ask her what was going on. She jumped to her feet with renewed vigor, and a blazing fire in her eyes, "I've got an idea."

The red dragon's jaw dropped, 'You are not suggesting-'

Elliot hacked as he choked on a piece of meat he had been chewing, and once he had regained control of his body, he stared at Raven with dread in his red eyes.

'Oh no,' he whimpered.

Raven's smug expression stayed fixed in place,

"Oh yes."

* * *

**A/N: Moving along quite nicely, don't you think?**

**~Rose**


	13. Theories

**A/N: Not a very long update, but I'm pretty sure you'll like it.**

**Chapter 13: Theories**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans**

* * *

Cyborg had been wandering the halls of Titan Tower for hours, and still had not been able to find an area that he recognized. Even his room seemed to have gone off the map.

To say that the teen was frustrated was an understatement; he was furious. He couldn't find his way around a tower that he built himself.

"First I can't remember my real name, then I get lost in my own tower. What next?", he grumbled angrily.

A rather large thud seemed to shake the foundations of the building, and a snarl echoed through the halls. Cyborg gritted his teeth, "Aw, heck no! Nobody messes up my tower!"

He took off at a sprint, feeling the push and pull of the muscles in his legs as they propelled him forward. He marveled at the feeling, wondering how he had ever run without them. There was something about running that just felt right.

The formerly cybernetic teen rounded a corner and was greeted by a dead end. As he turned around and ran away from the wall, he realized that the hallway seemed to have shifted, confirming his theory that the walls really were moving.

He sighed, and pressed on.

–

Raven and Kyd Wykkyd sat on the back of the crimson reptile as she nimbly sliced through the air with her powerful wings. The wind made it impossible for the empath to keep her hood up, forcing her to tolerate the feeling of her hair whipping her face.

Raven did not normally fly at such a speed, and wondered how Starfire could go so fast without hating having such long hair.

If her theory on how to get home was correct, she could ask her someday. If not, she would probably never ask anyone anything ever again.

Scarlet alighted in a clear spot near what looked like a crumbling castle. 'We have arrived at the record hall', she announced. The teens dismounted, and Scarlet shrunk down to about the size of a horse. Raven gestured for her go ahead, "Lead the way."

The dragon nodded and proceeded through the large entrance of the structure; she led them down winding halls and passages until she reached an archway that seemed to have an engraving in a foreign language above it.

'This room holds records of those who have been punished in some form. If your dragon is listed here, he would be in the book of banishment.'

Raven nodded as she took in the sheer number of shelves on the walls, all full of books. "This is going to take much longer than I originally thought," the sorceress whispered dejectedly, "how are we ever going to-"

She felt an unexpected tug on her cape, and looked down to see Elliot seated cross-legged on the floor in front of a book made of stone.

Scarlet stood over him, looking down at the pages, 'There are few names in this book, so it should not be long before we shall know whether your dragon has been banished. I will read them out to you.'

The crimson lizard began listing names, which were all beautiful and terrifying in nature. She had gotten to the twenty-fifth name before Raven interrupted her, "Stop! That's him!"

Scarlet blinked in surprise, 'I know of him. Why did you not tell me his name before now?' Raven shrugged derisively, "I-I didn't think it was important."

Kyd Wykkyd cocked an eyebrow at the sorceress, frustration bubbling beneath the surface. Scarlet snorted, 'Not important? He was one of the most dangerous to be banished. The Elder Council were fifteen in number in the beginning; Malchior was one of the founders.'

'He was a benevolent ruler, but he began to dabble in dark magic. Some say that the spells corrupted his soul and turned his beautiful violet scales black. Malchior began to assign horrible punishments to many dragons that did not deserve them, which is why there are so many names in this book.'

'One of his fellow members of the Elder Council discovered his harsh punishments and called a meeting of the Elders, during which they scolded Malchior and demoted him to an advisory position. He believed that a dragon as powerful as he should not be controlled by the Elders, and decided to do away with them.'

'He killed four Elder dragons before the others were able to subdue him. They decided that the safest way to be rid of the dread dragon was capital punishment; banishment through The Rift. That is the story of how the Elder Council came to have only ten members.'

Raven's brow furrowed as her face became set in a deep frown, "That explains a lot."

Scarlet suddenly looked very confused, 'Are you certain that the dragon you encountered was indeed Malchior?' The sorceress sighed, "Yes."

The reptile tilted her head to the side, 'That is nearly impossible. He should not have lived so long.'

Raven bit her lip with a sharp intake of breath, "He was trapped in a book by a powerful sorcerer named Rorek a long time ago. He...tricked me into releasing him, and then attacked me and my home. I managed to seal him back into the book, but somehow he was released again recently."

Kyd Wykkyd frowned, remembering the black dragon that the Brain had recruited in their crusade against the Titans. He chuckled as he remembered how easily such a "superior" creature had been subdued by the Honorary Titans.

Needless to say, he housed no fond feelings toward the overgrown lizard.

Raven roughly placed her hands on his shoulders, "Elliot! Do you know what this means?" He simply gave her a wide-eyed stare in return. "We can go home," she murmured in astonishment.

Both teens had long given up hope of ever returning, and though the answer was now right in front of them, they still had difficulty processing the information.

A sudden wide grin spread across Kyd Wykkyd's cowled face, and he pulled the empath into a tight hug, which she uncharacteristically returned.

He assumed that the excitement was getting to her, and decided it was best not to question it.

Scarlet resumed her gigantic size, and Raven released Elliot before she gracefully hopped up on the dragon's back. Though her face remained just as stoic as ever, he could tell that she was overjoyed at the thought of going home.

He scrambled up behind her, and held on to one of Scarlet's neck spikes for support. Her muscles rippled beneath her scales as she pushed off into the air, and her wings pumped powerfully as she became airborne. Once she reached the proper height, she rode the air currents.

The travel gave Elliot plenty of time to think, and a sudden realization struck him. He wasn't so sure that going back to Earth was what he wanted to do.

He had spent most of his time in the Chaos Plane fighting off intergalactic criminals and mapping out the dimension. He and Raven had become very close during this time, and he couldn't let her go back and face Psimon alone.

She would surely lose, and Psimon did not seem keen on letting either of them live. He probably assumed them to already be dead. This meant that his only option was to return to Earth with the sorceress. He sighed silently, and stared out at the clouds before them.

It wouldn't be fair to ask Scarlet to risk her neck for Raven as well. When they reached The Rift, he would have to say goodbye to the beautiful crimson dragon who had become his closest companion. He wondered if he would ever see her again.

Scarlet landed on the shore of the treacherous island jarringly, hissing as her feet sunk into the sand, 'I despise this place!'

Raven ignored her, and slid off onto the ground. Kyd Wykkyd followed reluctantly, wondering what the future held for him. As they carefully walked through the trees, they were careful not to step on any roots, which might awaken the plants.

Elliot spoke to Scarlet telepathically, 'Why haven't we seen more dragons? Shouldn't this dimension be full of your kind?' The reptile responded in a somber tone, 'We are a dying race.' Raven gave her a look that asked why, since she herself was limited in telepathic abilities.

Scarlet took a deep breath, 'We were a society of pacifists. We were peaceful at heart, but fierce to behold. No one crossed a dragon; even the plants knew better. Obviously our culture left us unprepared for the invaders.'

'They were few in number at first, and they feared us. The plants and serpents usually took care of them quickly enough, but eventually there were enough of them to worry our people. The Elders told them that the invaders were weak creatures and nothing to worry about, but they failed to take into account just how many of them there were.'

'One day, they launched an attack on the dragons, who were completely unprepared for warfare. Many died that day, and the survivors cast a spell on our future generations, that we should always remember our history even though our culture had been destroyed.'

Raven stared at her with obvious interest, but couldn't ask the questions she wanted for fear of waking the carnivorous plants. They continued their trek in silence, and the sorceress noted that Kyd Wykkyd grew more apprehensive as the sun sank lower in the sky.

In a few hours, the two moons of the planet became visible. Scarlet turned to her companions with a serious expression, 'The Rift should be directly through these trees. Are you certain it will work?'

Raven shook her head, "Not certain, but it makes sense." Scarlet's eyes narrowed, but she remained silent and stepped through the brush, and the teens followed behind her.

They emerged in a large desolate clearing, rather reminiscent of a desert. Large pieces of metal were strewn about, many resembling pieces of ships and planes, and the wind blew the dust around relentlessly.

In the center of the field of dirt gaped a large cavern; the darkness inside it seemed to swirl in a counterclockwise motion.

Scarlet and Wykkyd stopped beside the exposed tip of a buried boat, the boy stared at the wreckage in a mixture awe and trepidation. Raven walked ahead of them and stopped a few feet away from the edge of the void. "This is it," she murmured disbelievingly.

The villain gazed at Scarlet, as the stark reality set in; this was going to be goodbye. The crimson dragon noticed the boy's expression, and spoke in a worried tone, 'What is the matter?'

Elliot's eyes dropped to his shoes as his whisper of a mental voice echoed only in Scarlet's mind, 'I'm going to miss you.' The dragon remained speechless, and the cowled teen continued, 'I don't care about many things, but in the time we've been here-'

He paused, and took a deep breath. 'You have become the closest thing I have to family.' He continued staring at his feet, feeling an unfamiliar tightness in his chest that he couldn't fend off.

Suddenly Scarlet began to make a familiar rumbling sound deep in her chest, and Elliot shot her the best death glare he could muster under the circumstances, 'Why are you laughing?' The dragon gazed at him with a glint of amusement in her eye, 'I am laughing because you seem convinced that I am staying behind.'

Kyd Wykkyd's glare did not falter, 'You are.' Scarlet lowered her head until they were nearly nose-to-nose, 'And _you_ are going to stop me?'

Elliot finally dropped his stern glare, trading it for a wide smile as he jumped forward and wrapped his arms around her head. She chuckled once more, allowing him to continue hugging her until he saw fit to let go.

Raven still stood at the edge of The Rift, staring down into the swirling shadows. Suddenly, she found herself thrown up into the air, and she landed jarringly on Scarlet's back, directly in front of Kyd Wykkyd. "What are you doing?", the empath yelled in surprise.

The dragon hovered in place long enough to answer her, 'Risking my life to bring you home. Hold on!' She then tucked her wings against her sides and entered into a sharp dive, plunging them into the darkness quickly enough that her passengers had trouble hanging on.

Upon entering the vortex, they were spun around in a free-fall that seemed to last about ten minutes. As they passed through cloud after cloud of darkness, all three of them felt as if their stomachs were being turned inside-out. Elliot began to wonder if he would be able to hold on to his lunch much longer, when the shadows finally gave way to light and wispy clouds.

Scarlet yelped in astonishment as she noticed the vast expanse of water that was steadily rushing toward them at an alarming speed. She began to shift in the air, preparing to attempt slowing their descent, when she realized that they were going much too fast.

'I will break my wings if I attempt to stop!'

Elliot wracked his brain for a solution to their problem, but teleportation would not change their speed of descent, it would merely place them somewhere else, where they would still be in the same predicament. Suddenly, a black sphere appeared around the three of them.

There was a moment of calm and silence before they were plunged into the depths. Raven yelled out in a strained voice, "Elliot, teleport us! This shield won't hold!" His crimson eyes widened in alarm, 'I can't! My cape won't fit over all of us!'

Raven grunted as the shield began to crack, "Focus your energy into me!"

Kyd Wykkyd turned to gaze into the sorceress's eyes as she let down her mental shields. After entering the domain of Raven's mind, he activated the part of his own mind that controlled his powers. He felt her power and his become one, and almost instantly, all three of them were teleported about twenty feet above the ocean.

Scarlet's wings instinctively shot out as she began the fight to gain altitude. Kyd Wykkyd noticed that the sorceress looked worse for wear, and was about to ask if she were alright, when she lost consciousness and began to slip off of Scarlet's back.

He swiftly caught her and pinned her between his chest and Scarlet's neck, trying his best to hold on to both of them while the dragon continued to battle against gravity.

She finally broke through, and was able to glide along while riding the air currents, which led to a much less bumpy experience for Elliot. He was able to lean back, and pulled Raven up so that her back was braced against his chest. He noticed that her head lolled about dangerously, and decided that he should do something to stop it.

He hesitantly placed a hand on her forehead and pulled her head back, so that it rested against his shoulder. Scarlet let out a puff of smoke, which billowed out behind her into nonexistence.

She spoke calmly, 'Is this the world you come from?' He frowned thoughtfully, 'I think so. It's hard to tell from here.'

The crimson dragon mulled it over for a few seconds, 'What is your world like?' Kyd Wykkyd let out a silent sigh, 'The environment is usually more hospitable than that of the Chaos Plane.'

'What of your people?', she inquired. 'Selfish,' he replied coldly. 'All of them?', Scarlet pressed.

'...No. Not all of them. On Earth most people believe that everything can be separated between Good and Evil. Good people are not generally classified as selfish,' he responded robotically.

'You do not seem to accept that explanation,' the dragon noted thoughtfully. 'I don't. It's not that simple. If those divisions between good and evil were accurate, there would be nearly nothing that would be good. Every "good" person has some part of them that fits the description of evil.' Scarlet let out another puff of smoke, 'What of the Evil people? Do they also have some part that fits the description of good?'

Kyd Wykkyd's eyes became wide as he pondered her question, 'I-It's possible.' She allowed a few seconds of silence to pass between them before she spoke again, 'On which side do you categorize yourself?'

His answer was immediate, 'Evil.' The dragon emitted a short noise that Elliot could not decipher, and questioned him in a perfect monotone, 'Why?' She had only said one word, but the underlying question was so intimidating that the boy could not respond. He had never really put much thought into why he considered himself evil; it had always seemed like the obvious answer.

The things he had done during his lifetime were obviously not good. Even his chosen alias implied evil, for what other qualities should define someone as wicked? Even still, Scarlet had taken his beliefs about the impurities of good, and flipped them around.

If no one was completely good, wouldn't it also imply that no one would be completely evil? If Elliot was not entirely evil, did it mean that some part of him was good?

'You do not have to answer. It was simply something I was thinking about. The complexities of life are rather astounding, are they not?', the dragon murmured thoughtfully. Kyd Wykkyd realized that Scarlet had been trying to prove a point, and for that reason, he assured himself that he would never acknowledge that it had worked.

They continued flying in silence, as Kyd continued to turn over the idea of evil versus good in his mind. He stared out into the distance, completely oblivious to the world around him.

* * *

**A/N: Like I said, one of the shortest updates ever, but it's definitely one of the most anticipated updates yet!**

**Review, please?**

**~Rose**


	14. Mysteries

**Chapter 14: Mysteries**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans**

* * *

Raven began to fade into consciousness, and realized that she was resting against something soft and warm. She remembered that the last time she had awoken feeling that way, and attempted to sit up too quickly.

The clouds around them seemed to whirl erratically, and she could feel herself beginning to slide off of her seat. A pair of gloved hands caught her by her shoulders, and lifted her back upright, holding her in a sitting position to ensure that she was able to do so on her own. She understood this, and patted one of the hands to signal that she was okay.

The hands were immediately gone, and she turned to look at her impromptu savior. His red eyes were wide with what seemed to be concern, and Raven felt the need to explain, "I used too much energy trying to teleport us from so deep in the ocean. I must have blacked out."

He nodded once in affirmation, and Raven looked out into the clouds. Kyd Wykkyd watched her with interest, wondering why she seemed so worried. Her stoic nature made any sort of visible emotion suspect to investigation. "Thank you," she said abruptly.

He raised an eyebrow at her, trying to convey his confusion. "For saving me, I mean," she rasped quietly. Wykkyd nodded with a small smile, which faded as quickly as it came.

The sorceress saw this as vastly out of character, as his expressions of emotion were usually highly exaggerated to compensate for his lack of vocal expression. Her frown grew deeper as she pondered why Elliot seemed to be upset, though she quickly dismissed it, since making people feel better was not her area of expertise.

Raven gazed out at the wispy clouds, and didn't really see them. She felt a small pressure on her upper arm, and turned to see that Kyd Wykkyd had poked her. She didn't react, instead choosing to return to her cloud observations. He poked her again, much rougher than the last time. "What?", she inquired passively.

The boy simply continued to stare at her. "I'm fine," she replied assertively. He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. Raven's eyebrow twitched slightly as mild frustration bubbled under the surface, "Look, I'm just trying to figure out the best way to go about taking Psimon down. There's nothing wrong."

His expression softened as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and Scarlet piped up for the first time in a while, 'Do you have any ideas?' "I have a few. The problem is that we don't know what happened while we were gone," she explained. 'It may be that your friends have already defeated him,' the dragon suggested. Raven shrugged, "It's possible, but I doubt it. Psimon got rid of us for a reason. I think he believed we were the only ones who could resist his control."

Kyd Wykkyd nodded in agreement before he was suddenly struck by the implications of the situation. His pale face betrayed a tinge of fear, which Raven picked up on immediately through her empathic powers. "What is it?", she demanded. 'We have to fight them. All of them,' he replied reluctantly.

The sorceress nodded affirmatively, "In this situation, we have to assume the worst: that Psimon has a metahuman army at his disposal." 'And we haven't the slightest idea of what we are getting ourselves into,' Scarlet interjected. The cowled teen glared at the sorceress, who crossed her arms across her chest and looked away, "I don't see _you_ coming up with any brilliant ideas." They continued in silence until the dragon alerted them that they were approaching land.

"You should shrink down and let me carry us the rest of the way. It will be less conspicuous that way," Raven suggested. 'I'll just teleport us,' Wykkyd asserted. The sorceress frowned at him, "That's not necessary." He released a huff of hair that should have been a laugh, 'A flying disc carrying a Teen Titan, villain, and a dragon isn't very stealthy.'

She blinked once, "Right. Okay, we'll do it your way." He nodded and grabbed ahold of Raven's forearm, after which she lifted him up off of Scarlet's back. The dragon shrank back down to her original size, and flapped in place as Kyd Wykkyd used his free hand to lift up his cape. She darted into the darkness as he whirled it around all of them.

They reemerged behind some trees in what seemed to be a tropical environment. The air was almost unbearably humid, and it smelled of exhaust and fish. Scarlet wrinkled her nose in response, but otherwise said nothing about the odor. Raven peeked out toward the sound of crashing waves and was greeted by the sight of pink sand.

She vaguely wondered if the portal had dropped them off in some sort of nightmare realm, before she remembered that pink sand was common to certain places like the Bahamas. She realized that her first order of business should be to find out where they were. The beach they were on looked like a tourist attraction, but Raven noted that the coast was nearly deserted; occupied by only a handful of people.

She began to step forward when Elliot grabbed her arm, 'We can't go out there looking like this.' Her face remained as stoic as ever, "Why, exactly?" He tilted his head forward, 'If Psimon has a metahuman army, it would be best to attract as little attention as possible.' Raven slapped the palm of her hand to her forehead, "I realize this, but it's not like we can get new clothes. I don't have any money, and none of these shops are open."

Kyd Wykkyd grinned mischievously, and the girl's violet eyes narrowed stubbornly, "We aren't going to steal them." He shrugged at her, sly smile still in place,

'Think of it as...borrowing without permission.'

–

Raven stood impatiently in a shady alley with Scarlet perched on her shoulder; she glared daggers at the wall while she waited. Finally, Kyd Wykkyd appeared in a whirl of black, and dropped a few shopping bags at the girl's feet.

She gave them a disapproving glance before she turned her glower on Elliot, "I don't like this." He ignored her statement and shoved one of the bags into her hands.

The violet-haired girl's frown deepened after assessing the contents of the bag, and she raised an eyebrow at the other teen, "You've got to be kidding me. Would you like to explain why you want to dress me up as a punk rocker?"

Elliot's expression turned defensive, 'Purple hair isn't uncommon for that social group. I thought that would be the easiest way to blend in without changing your hair.'

"I could have worn a hoodie, you know," she argued. 'That would be conspicuous since it's so hot here,' he responded tentatively.

Raven continued to frown, but seemed to accept his explanation, and took the bag with her behind a dumpster. Scarlet relocated to her usual spot on Elliot's shoulder. "Keep watch. If anyone sees me changing, I'll kill you," she called from behind the metal container.

The tone of her voice assured the boy that this was indeed a promise, rather than a threat. Kyd Wykkyd did as he was told and watched the open end of the alley with his back to Raven's impromptu dressing room. The violet-haired girl emerged in her new outfit, which included a tank with a band logo, ripped shorts, and clunky combat boots that sported numerous buckles. She threw her worn out cape in the dumpster on the way.

Elliot picked up his own bag and walked off to change as well. When he was finished, he resembled a stereotypical emo kid, or at least that was what Raven assumed, since she didn't pay much attention to trends. His black hair hung down into his pale face, and he wore what seemed to be a leather backpack that was covered in zippers.

Seeing him dressed that way helped her understand his fashion choice, as his bright red eyes looked more like a strange set of contacts than a natural occurrence. Scarlet peeked out from the larger compartment of his pack, obviously not happy to be confined to such a small space.

Raven stared out at the setting sun, contemplating the fact that her entire way of life had shifted once more. In the Chaos Plane, money was nonexistent, as trade was more popular, but here it was much more difficult to get by without anything of monetary value.

She remembered that she had actually packed food for their trip, but they had lost most of it during their treacherous arrival. She sighed as she realized that they would probably go hungry that night.

Raven was jarred from her reverie by Kyd Wykkyd's mental voice, 'Hungry?' She nodded sadly, and the boy began to march out into the street. The sorceress rushed to keep up with him, "What are you doing?"

The boy said nothing, but led her into what appeared to be a sub shop, which was unsurprising considering that the region was a tourist stop. The empath noticed that the radio was tuned to a news channel, and attempted to listen intently.

Elliot rummaged through the pockets of his bag, and retrieved a debit card. Though he was unsure of its validity at the moment, he handed it to Raven. 'Ask if you can use this here,' he instructed her.

She did as he requested, and the man behind the counter assured them that the shop would accept the card. Raven ordered a sandwich for herself, Elliot, and Scarlet, then gave the card back to the boy so that he could punch in the pin number. Raven noticed a pile of maps sitting on the counter, and asked if they could have one.

The man nodded while he assembled their order, and they both took a seat inside the small shop, which was only a few degrees cooler than it was outside. Raven spread out the map, which had a helpful "You are here" circled around their location.

Raven let out a short, harsh laugh, and Elliot looked at her questioningly. "Looks like we were dropped in the Bermuda Triangle. We're in the Bahamas right now," she explained.

An amused smile stretched across his face as he realized why all of the wreckage had been strewn about The Rift. The sorceress continued talking, "As for getting back... we could save on airfare and travel at night."

Elliot shrugged, 'We could do that to get to Florida, and then take a plane to Jump.' "Then we run into the money problem again," she murmured. 'I have it covered,' he assured her, remembering that his payment had indeed gone through. Raven raised an eyebrow at him, "How? Wait, never mind. Forget I asked."

The man from the counter approached their table with the sandwiches, pleasantly apologizing for the wait. Raven caught a snatch of the report on the radio, and her eyes went wide as she addressed the shop owner, "What did they just say?"

The dark skinned man sighed, "The same thing they've been saying for the past week. All anyone can talk about is that man from the US who took over."

The violet-haired girl furrowed her brow, "And he has an army?" The man looked at her as if she had just sprouted a new head, "A global takeover, and you don't know anything about it?"

Raven activated her signature poker-face, and responded, "My brother and I wanted to experience Colonial methods of travel, so when we boarded the ship, we severed all connections to the outside world. I suppose we missed it somehow."

The man frowned, "Thats...interesting. Uh, I guess I should fill you in. It started when this strange man appeared on every TV all over the world at the same time."

"He said he was taking over, and that there would be consequences for anyone who resisted. The world leaders all started acting weird; they seemed okay with it. Even the superheroes who weren't wrapped up in some space incident didn't do anything about it."

"A day later, someone with the American space program shot down some satellites that were helping him control the leaders, and all of a sudden the metahumans disappeared."

"A lot of the world leaders worked together and launched an attack on his base, but unfortunately they found out where the metas went. He took them down in only a few minutes. Some people say he has meta-troops stationed everywhere..."

Raven pressed her lips into a firm line, "What do _you_ think?" He shrugged, "I don't know _what_ to think anymore. All I know is that it's bad for business." With that, he turned and walked off to wipe down the counter. When she turned her attention back to Elliot, she saw that he had frozen mid-bite, sandwich still raised to his mouth.

They locked eyes for a few seconds, until he slowly resumed eating as if nothing had happened. Raven followed his example and dug into her own sandwich. When they finished, they thanked the man for his help. "Hey, be careful out there! It's not safe for you kids to be out at night," he shouted. Raven replied over her shoulder before she allowed the door to swing shut, "We'll be careful."

They walked a few blocks before Raven decided they were relatively hidden from view, and opened up the extra sandwich for Scarlet, who poked her head out of the bag to eat it. The sorceress turned to Wykkyd, who was steadily staring down the road. "We have to get to Jump."

He stood as still as a statue, 'What do you intend to do once you get there? We can't fight _all_ of them.' Raven stepped in front of him, "We have to _try._" His expression remained as defeated as before, 'Unless we can find some way to break his control over them, walking in there would be a suicide mission.'

The sorceress's eyes sparked with hope, "What if...we found someone who could design a device to disrupt his control?" Kyd frowned, 'Cyborg and Gizmo have probably been captured. Looking for them could reveal our presence to Psimon.' Raven shook her head, "I think I know of someone else who might be helpful."

She walked over to a payphone, picked up the receiver, and punched in a number. Elliot thought she had surely lost her mind, since payphones didn't work without paying. She seemed to be listening to something, and then punched in another rather long number. The empath waited again, and suddenly straightened up as if she were conducting business.

"It's Raven. Of the Jump City Teen Titans," she rasped in a perfect monotone. She remained stiff as a board while she listened. "Yes," she murmured as she punched in another rather long number. "Okay. I'll be there. And I have two friends with me." She hung up quickly and turned to Elliot, "We need to be in Elmond, Virginia this time tomorrow."

He gazed at her in blank confusion, but didn't ask any questions. Raven turned to Scarlet, who was perched on Elliot's shoulder, "Are you too tired to fly tonight?" The dragon lowered her head, 'I am sorry, but I am much too weak to fly right now.'

The soft tropical wind tousled both of their hair, and Raven nodded understandingly. 'Let's get a hotel,' Elliot suggested. His two companions nodded their agreement, and after a bit of searching, they found a place that wasn't completely booked up.

Raven had no doubt that if the world was not reeling from the takeover, they wouldn't have had it so easy. The woman behind the desk smiled pleasantly and provided them with a room key to a double suite. She had dark brown hair, chocolate colored eyes, olive skin, and thin rimmed glasses that rested on the bridge of her nose.

The same woman was still there when Raven and Elliot arrived to check out at three o'clock in the morning. She didn't question them, which the sorceress was grateful for. They reached a secluded area, where Elliot donned his cape over his civilian clothes and swiftly teleported all three of them a few miles out over the ocean, where Scarlet resumed her larger size and took flight with her passengers.

The crimson dragon flew high enough above the clouds that it would be difficult to spot her from the ground. She addressed Raven, 'Who is this mysterious person we will be meeting?'

"Hopefully someone who isn't under Psimon's control," she replied enigmatically.

–

The rhythmic thump of her own boots on the floor seemed as thunderous as a summer storm to the alien princess, who was still unused to the noise that accompanied her footfalls. Starfire gritted her teeth as she willed herself to press on toward the only sounds that rivaled her own steps in volume.

She skidded to a stop as she saw the door to her room, which she had already passed twice.

Her purple eyes narrowed in suspicion, "I know for a fact that I have not been making the circles." The girl pushed her black hair back behind her ear, then she heard the slightest flutter of fabric to her left. She instinctively adopted a fighting stance, facing the dark hallway she knew someone must be hiding in.

Starfire gasped as a small object struck her back and a rope instantaneously wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her body. She managed not to fall forward, and spun around to face the other hallway that she initially failed to look at. Inside it stood a shadowy figure, absolutely intimidating and authoritative in posture.

He stepped forward into the light, allowing her to see him better. Starfire gasped, "I-I recognize you." The man said nothing, and the girl allowed a small sigh of relief to escape her lips.

"Perhaps you know how to help me? Everything is wrong, and it appears that I am quite lost," she said with an innocent smile. The figure grunted, and then leaped into the air. Starfire let out a small shriek as she narrowly avoided the powerful kick that was meant for her.

"Perhaps you misunderstand! I am Princess Starfire of Tamaran, and member of the Teen Titans!", she exclaimed before ducking a punch that could have knocked her out cold.

"You're not Starfire," growled a voice that was frighteningly cold and emotionless. Her eyes grew wide as she remembered that she did, in fact, look like her sister Blackfire.

"But I am! Please, listen- _oof_!", she grunted as the man kicked her into the wall of the Tower.

She wheezed and coughed, trying to catch her breath after having the wind knocked out of her. Starfire had been unable to catch herself, due to the fact that her hands were pinned against her sides.

From her position on the floor, she could see the black boots of the figure steadily approaching.

–

Kyd Wykkyd let loose a silent sigh of boredom. He couldn't understand how Raven was able to sit in the same position for five hours, as he could barely sit still for a few minutes.

He occupied himself with trying to make shapes out of the clouds for the first hour, but it grew old very fast. He tried napping, and it helped pass two and a half more hours, but when he woke up, he was twice as jittery as before the nap.

This led Elliot to conclude that napping was ineffective as a method of passing time, and should only be used on shorter trips. It was difficult to keep his mind busy enough; to avoid thinking about the odds that were stacked against them.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between his forefingers. It was impossible. There was no way they could succeed. It dawned on him that Raven knew this; she was prepared to sacrifice everything for her cause.

He watched the back of her head as she meditated, and he pondered what exactly her motivations were. Was it out of a sense of duty or obligation? Was she only concerned for the lives of her friends? Did she honestly care about the fate of the people on Earth?

Elliot realized that his true question was whether her heroism was actually rooted in selfishness. Perhaps she desired to be praised for her good deeds, or maybe she simply didn't want to be lonely. He accepted the fact that he would never truly know the answer to such a question.

He shook his head, as if to shake his wayward thoughts into submission. He leaned forward until he could rest his chin on the sorceress's shoulder. Though her eyes remained closed, Raven stiffened immediately; her mouth twitched downward as if she were threatening to frown, "What do you think you're doing?"

He shrugged, even though he knew that she couldn't see it. A moment of silence passed between them, and the empath roughly jerked her shoulder out from under his chin. "Stop touching me," she warned, keeping her eyes closed. The boy crossed his arms and made a face at the back of her head, sticking out his tongue for good measure.

"Very mature," she said in a disapproving tone. Kyd vaguely wondered how she knew, but decided it was another of life's mysteries.

A few more minutes passed, and Kyd Wykkyd started as Raven yanked him down from Scarlet's back. He drowsily shot her a good glare before he yanked his arm away from her. They were outside of what appeared to be an old run-down warehouse.

From the state of decay, he assumed that it had been abandoned for years. It seemed like the kind of place the characters in a horror movie would go to be chased down and killed.

Needless to say, Elliot didn't like the place. Scarlet seemed to be on-edge as well, but the sorceress seemed unperturbed. A small robot emerged from the ground and rolled over to where she stood.

A small scanner emerged from the top of it, and a robotic voice spoke, "Scanning. Do not move." They all held perfectly still until the robot cleared them. "Scan complete. Subjects are clear." After a slight pause, it spoke again, "Please stand back."

It immediately folded out and grew until it resembled a cylindrical phone booth. Raven's eyes grew wide, "A portable zeta tube? Scarlet, you're going to need to shrink." The dragon did as she was told, and alighted on Elliot's shoulder.

Raven stepped inside the tube and disappeared.

Kyd Wykkyd's eyes grew wide, and Scarlet nudged him impatiently. He reluctantly approached the device, a deep frown on his face. The crimson dragon huffed, 'Are you afraid?'

He straightened up and took a deep breath. As he stepped inside the tube, he voiced a sole thought,

'We're going to die.'

* * *

**A/N: So Starfire is having some issues of her own.**

**I want to hear your theories on who Raven contacted!**

**~Rose**


	15. Teamwork

**Chapter 15: Teamwork**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans**

* * *

Cyborg had never put much thought into how he was going to die, but he never thought it would end like this. He lay on the floor of the Tower, with his back propped against the wall. As he listened to the complaining of his empty stomach, he grumbled about his misfortune.

"Lost in my own tower...can't find any food...in my own dang tower..."

A loud snarl ripped him from his monologue of complaint. The African-American teen flinched in surprise and scrambled to his feet.

He could hear it coming; the thump of its paws on the ground steadily grew louder. Cyborg could feel his panic building. His reaction to every dangerous situation was to fight, it was part of who he was.

As he stood there listening to the noises of the mysterious creature, he realized that he was defenseless. He had no sonic cannon, no super strength, and very soft vulnerable skin.

His human instincts screamed at him to run, and for the first time in a long time he was forced to listen. Cyborg took off at full speed, realizing that he needed to outrun this thing. He had no way to defend himself, and he resolved to find one.

As the padding of the paws continued to sound behind him, he could tell that he was being followed.

_Something was hunting him._

–

Kyd Wykkyd stumbled forward, feeling extremely dizzy. His stomach churned uncomfortably, and he grimaced in discomfort. "I thought you said he was a teleporter?", a female voice inquired. "He is," Raven's voice answered. The cowled teen sprang to his feet and landed in a perfectly casual looking stance.

To the untrained eye, one might assume that he was attempting to play off his disgraceful entrance, but to someone seasoned in combat, it was clear that he had adopted a defensive stance. His crimson eyes landed on a girl dressed almost entirely in black.

Her mask covered the top of her head and had pointy 'ears' on top, and her red hair stuck out from under it. A yellow symbol was emblazoned across her chest, which he immediately recognized as the infamous bat symbol.

He took an involuntary step back, his face betraying a tinge of anxiety.

The redhead smirked and addressed Kyd, "I'm going to assume that you aren't a superhero." The boy assumed a well-practiced poker face, and Batgirl seemed very satisfied with herself, "Thought so."

She finally noticed the small dragon perched on his shoulder, "Oh, who is this?"

'I have been given the name Scarlet. Who are you?', the reptile demanded distrustfully.

"I'm Batgirl. I'd love to stand around and chat, but we have a world to save," she replied as she gestured for them to follow her. She approached a large screen that displayed a map of the world, "I've determined that the telepath is controlling everyone from his base of operations, which is located in Jump City. He used satellites to broadcast his mental signal all over the world, and took control of the superheros and villains. Lucky for us, the Justice League is off-world, so he doesn't have _them_."

Raven seemed relieved, "Good. I was worried about that."

The sorceress furrowed her brow, "Wait, what about Robin? He's not a metahuman." Batgirl pursed her lips, "I don't think that matters to Psimon. It's all about turning his enemies into his servants. He took control of anyone who had the slightest chance of stopping him."

Kyd Wykkyd lifted an eyebrow, and Raven voiced his question, "Why didn't he take control of you?"

The redhead smiled and rapped the top of her helmet, "We've dealt with telepaths before. My headgear isn't just a fashion statement." Scarlet spoke, 'Then how were you able to hear me?' "Telepathy is sometimes the best way to communicate, so my helmet _only_ filters out the command frequencies," Batgirl replied matter-of-factly.

"Do you have more of those?", Raven inquired. The redhead hopped up from the computer, "Way ahead of you. I have already built about ten headbands that cancel out control waves. The problem is that they only prevent commands, and whatever instructions that have already been given stay in place."

Raven turned to Kyd Wykkyd, "It's possible to break the control." The boy gave her a skeptical look, and she crossed her arms defensively, "I can enter their minds and help them escape Psimon's control. It can't be much harder than fighting off a neurotoxin."

Batgirl gazed at the sorceress, "If you can do that, we'll have a few more people on our side." Raven nodded, "It's going to be tricky. We need to pick people that Psimon won't notice are missing." The other girl pressed her lips into a tight line, "In other words, not Robin and the other Titans."

The empath nodded, "Have any ideas?" The red haired girl rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "Let me think on it." Her eyes wandered over to where the cape-clad teenage boy stood staring at the case that held a spare Batman uniform.

"What's his name?", she murmured. "He goes by Kyd Wykkyd. He's a member of the HIVE 5," Raven responded.

Batgirl frowned, "Never heard of them." Raven shrugged, "Unsurprising. Batgirl, do you know of anyone helpful who could drop off the radar without Psimon noticing?" The redhead tapped her chin as she thought, "Maybe Speedy or Kid Flash. I don't believe he's had any personal contact with them."

Raven suddenly whipped her head around, and her voice took on a sharp tone, "Stop that!"

Batgirl's gaze landed on Kyd Wykkyd, who had frozen in the act of using his cape to reach through the glass of the display case. His face contorted into an acidic scowl, and he retreated to sit along the far wall, crossing his arms irritably.

Raven rubbed her temples, "I apologize. He's a compulsive thief."

Batgirl let out a small gasp of excitement, "Maybe that's what we need." The sorceress's emotionless face twitched, "I don't follow."

The black-suited teen paced the room and gestured with her hands in quick jerking movements as she spoke, "He'll be expecting us to try freeing other heroes, so he'd be keeping a close eye on them. Even if we managed to pick heroes that he wouldn't notice were missing, he would be expecting any plans we could formulate, because he's a telepath."

"Any good telepath studies how people think, and I'm positive he has spent a lot of time learning the thought processes of heroes. But if we formed a team of thieves to bring him down...", the redhead trailed off.

"He wouldn't anticipate it because his black-and-white understanding of heroes wouldn't allow for such a plan," Raven stated with understanding.

"I don't know how to figure out which ones will want to help us. Or how to even _ask_ them to help us," Batgirl stated sadly. Raven tilted her head in Kyd Wykkyd's direction, "_He_ does." The boy still sat against the wall, feigning disinterest while Scarlet napped on his shoulder. The redheaded girl frowned, "Is he going to help?"

Kyd simply stared at Raven expectantly, as if he were waiting for something. "I do not owe you an apology for warning you not to steal from Batman. I was doing you a favor," she stated stoically. He seemed to think about it for a second, and then decided that she was probably right.

The girls sat down at a table, and Kyd Wykkyd followed at a leisurely pace. After he was seated, Raven pushed a piece of paper and a pen over to him. "Who should we go after?", she asked with a very serious expression on her face.

He tapped his chin as he thought for a few seconds, and then wrote down only two names on the paper. Batgirl furrowed her brow, "Don't we need more people than that?"

Kyd shook his head confidently, and Raven pursed her lips as she thought. "Well...if he thinks we only need these two, we should trust him."

The black-suited girl rose from her seat abruptly, "Alright then. Let's get going, shall we?"

Scarlet's stomach growled loudly, and Elliot shot her a look of sympathy as he remembered how hard she had worked in the past few days.

"Or maybe we should eat first?"

–

It was perfect.

The press conference was going according to schedule, and in exactly five seconds, the target would move into the optimal position. The dark-haired sniper lay on the roof, and smiled beneath her mask as she stared down the sight of her gun.

Jobs like this one were such easy money. The head of the President came into view, and she pulled the trigger without hesitation. An abnormally loud explosion sounded, and she watched as the bullet missed its target. Her green eyes grew wide beneath her full-face mask, "W-What? I don't miss!"

Suddenly, she was surrounded by helicopters and armed men dressed entirely in black. She jumped to her feet and reached for her handgun, discovering that it was missing from its holster. She gasped in fear and extended her claw swords as her heart thumped erratically in her chest.

She realized that she had a better chance of survival if she surrendered and went to jail, so she put away her claws and lifted her hands in surrender.

"Oh, that's cute. She thinks we're taking her to jail," a gruff voice commented tauntingly. Her eyes landed on a man whose appearance made her heart stop. "How?" Her gaze flickered from face to face. Each one she recognized, and each one had a small circular hole in their forehead.

"You're- You're supposed to be-"

"DEAD?", he finished in the same taunting voice.

"We are," a female voice continued, "And you'll soon be joining us!"

The girl's face drained of color beneath her mask as a bullet tore through her shoulder. She gritted her teeth against the pain, as she stared up at the advancing figures with a primal fear in her eyes. The man who had spoken first laughed maniacally, "Be patient! You'll all get your turn!"

Tears of desperation flowed down her face and dripped off the chin of her mask, "P-Please! Don't kill me!" The man leaned down, blood dripping from the hole in his head, "What's the matter? Is the killer afraid of dying? It's not really that bad, you'll see."

Suddenly, the man was yanked backward and thrown from the building in one fluid movement, revealing a single figure standing over her. He offered her his hand, which she didn't take. "No! Stay away from me!"

He motioned for her to stand up, and she recognized him as Kyd Wykkyd. "What are you doing here?", she demanded in a slightly steadier voice. 'I came to help,' he signed fluidly. She glanced around at the mob that still crowded around her, "But you can't do anything! There's too many of them."

'It's not real,' he replied in sign language.

"What are you talking about, Wykkyd?", she snarled.

"This isn't real," he said in a silky smooth voice that somehow managed to reverberate over the din.

The masked girl leaped to her feet with a start, "You can't talk!" He frowned, "I'm painfully aware of that, thanks."

She stared at him for a moment, "So this is a dream? That's why you're talking?" He shook his head one time, and the sorceress stepped out of the crowd of people. "We're in your mind. You are being controlled by a telepath named Psimon, who is forcing you to face your worst fears," she explained in her signature monotone.

The assassin glanced around at the zombie crowd, and a tiny giggle escaped her lips as she extended her claw blades and dispatched them in the span of a few minutes.

When she finished, she casually walked over to Kyd Wykkyd. "So are we going to kill this guy, or what?", she purred dangerously. He turned to Raven with a smirk, "She's in." The sorceress nodded and snapped her fingers, instantly waking them all up.

Cheshire's hands immediately flew the the band around her head, "What is this?", she questioned. "It's to filter out any further orders Psimon might try to give you," a chipper voice replied.

The girl in the cat mask was surprised to see that she was facing a person who seemed to be Batgirl. The redhead had three thin scratches on her cheek, which Cheshire immediately recognized as her own claw marks. She retracted her knives and crossed her arms as she looked for Kyd Wykkyd, who teleported right in front of her.

"Ah, there you are. We're working with these two?", she asked in a neutral tone. He nodded in affirmation, and she abruptly wrapped her arms around him, surprising everyone present. "Thanks for saving me," she murmured flirtatiously.

Elliot's face turned bright red, and he teleported out of her grasp. Once he was out of her reach, he shot her a dirty look. She shrugged at him, "It was worth a shot."

"Ready to go?", Batgirl called from the cockpit of a black jet. "Is that what I think it is?," Cheshire wondered aloud. "Yes, it is," Raven answered as she climbed in. The girl in the cat mask murmured a few colorful words of awe before she jumped in.

–

It seemed that with the world in chaos, a young thief would be thriving on the discord, but honestly he was angrier than usual. His mask jammed the signal of Psimon's telepathic powers, but stealing just didn't seem as fun without any consequences.

The teenager needed a thrill, and couldn't seem to find one. The window of his apartment suddenly shattered, and he jumped to his feet with a start. He ran to his closet as quickly as his feet would carry him, since his utility belt was in the bottom of it, and he couldn't teleport away without it.

He threw the door open and was greeted by...nothing. His eyes grew wide beneath his mask, "What the-" He felt a tap on his shoulder, and whirled around to face none other than Kyd Wykkyd, who teasingly dangled the belt in the air before disappearing. "Oh, you messed with the wrong guy, kid," he remarked arrogantly.

He dodged a kick from behind, but was surprised to see a familiar masked face. "Batgirl?", he exclaimed incredulously. She launched a few good punches, which narrowly missed their mark, "So we've met before, huh?"

He chuckled arrogantly, "Not in this lifetime. So what brings the Bat-brat all the way to the west coast?"

He suddenly froze in place, having realized that he was surrounded, and lifted up his hands in surrender. "Okay, what do you kids want?", he asked in an unperturbed tone. Cheshire stepped forward, "We're taking Psimon down. You want in?"

"Eh, I'm not much of an assassin," he yawned to express his boredom. Raven shrugged and attempted to employ reverse psychology, "He'd probably slow us down anyway."

"Probably," the teen remarked as he turned to walk away.

Suddenly, Kyd Wykkyd appeared before him, lifted him up by his shirt, and slammed him into the wall. "Aw, I'm beginning to think you don't like me," he taunted. '_You owe me_,' Wykkyd asserted mentally.

"I thought you forgot about that," the thief groaned, then planted his feet on Kyd Wykkyd's chest and shoved him backward. The cowled teen gracefully turned his tumble into a something of a backflip, landing in a crouch on the floor.

He gazed up at the masked teen expectantly, and the other guy eventually shrugged. "Well, I was looking for something fun to do. Near-death experience is close enough," he remarked haughtily. Batgirl stepped forward, "Who are you anyway?"

A slight chuckle sounded from beneath his mask,

"They call me Red X".

* * *

**A/N: So a lot of you got really close when you guessed Batman! No doubt, he was her intended contact. Too bad the JLA is off-world! (Not really, I did NOT want to write how they'd hold up against Superman or Wonder Woman. No way.)**

**Thoughts? Comments? Complaints?  
**

**Let me know!**

**~Rose**


	16. Diplomacy

**Chapter 16: Diplomacy**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans**

* * *

The alien princess's heart thumped erratically in her chest as she did the exact opposite of what she had been trained to do since birth.

She ran for her life.

The dark figure behind her pursued her effortlessly, like a lion stalking its prey. Judging from his previous demonstration of his physical prowess, Starfire knew that he could have easily caught her long ago.

He must have been toying with her.

She felt her blood boil at the thought of being treated like some sort of game, and she skidded to a stop, her hands balled into fists at her sides. She reminded herself that she was Princess Starfire of Tamaran, though she didn't look like it at the moment. She was a warrior, not a coward in need of saving.

The footsteps behind her ceased, and the Tamaranean swallowed her fear, preparing to fight to her last breath. As her fury bubbled up within her, she whirled on her pursuer, and her eyes began to glow a fiery purple.

The man seemed mildly surprised, and narrowly dodged the eye beams that were aimed at his head. Starfire launched herself into the air, shooting toward him at a dangerous speed. He sidestepped her at the last minute, and she crashed through the wall before she could slow down.

The black-haired girl brushed the rubble from her shoulder casually, and ducked as the caped figure sailed over her head. The Tamaranean felt a trill of excitement as she landed a savage uppercut that sent her opponent into a backward tumble.

He managed to get back on his feet in record time, and charged forward once more.

–

"I love that plan. Sounds like it will definitely work. If the objective is for everyone to die," Red X commented bitingly.

Raven took a deep breath before responding, "If all of my ideas are so awful, why don't you share some of your own?" The teen shrugged and remained silent.

Eventually Cheshire spoke up, "Sounds to me like this guy is all about theatrics. He put out that announcement on worldwide television, and then made a big deal of showing everyone how powerful he is. He's not interested in getting rich or being in charge. He wants to rule people through fear."

Batgirl raised an eyebrow, "How is that any different from wanting to be in charge?"

Cheshire tilted her head up as if in deep concentration, "If someone wanted to take over the world in order to get rich, he would plant himself in a palace after achieving his goal. If he wanted the power to do as he wished, he would immediately start implementing changes. Psimon has done neither of those because his objective is to prove his superiority."

Red X nodded absentmindedly, "Okay, but how is that going to help us take him down?" The girl in the cat mask crossed her arms and leaned back into her seat, "Pinpointing _motivation_ is the key to finding your enemy's _weakness._"

Kyd Wykkyd stared at the ceiling as he tried to think of something that could contribute to a successful plan. 'As far as Psimon is concerned, Raven and I are dead. We can use that to our advantage,' he mused. Red X snapped his fingers, "Since he's all about superiority, why don't we let him win?"

Batgirl shot him a glare.

He chuckled and lifted a finger, "I meant, we should make him _think_ he's got us." Raven's eyes widened infinitesimally, "If he believes he's won, he'll let his guard down."

"And _we_ can take him _out_," Cheshire purred with barely contained excitement.

"No," Batgirl responded with finality. "You aren't allowed to kill him. The court will decide what to do with him if we capture him," she continued. "_When_ we capture him," the sorceress corrected. The laughter of the two villains immediately began to ricochet off of the walls of the jet. Kyd Wykkyd allowed a few spasmodic silent laughs to escape before he noticed the look on the girls' faces.

He promptly ceased his laughter and roughly elbowed Cheshire in her side. The masked villains grew silent, and stared at the heroes blankly. "You can't be serious," Red X breathed incredulously. "We are," the girls responded in unison.

The girl in the cat mask huffed, "That's ridiculous! What? You expect to just cuff him and take him in quietly? I knew you superheroes were naïve, but this is just-"

'Understood,' Kyd Wykkyd asserted.

"What!?", Cheshire exclaimed. In an instant, she was nose-to-nose with the boy.

'Understood,' he repeated sternly.

She held his gaze for a few seconds before giving in, "Fine. If I die because of your new code of ethics, I'm coming back for you."

–

As Cyborg dashed down the halls of Titans Tower, he began to realize how out of character his behavior was. He was a hero, and he always faced challenges head-on. Yet, there he was, running away like a frightened rabbit.

"But without my tech, I'm helpless!", he yelled at no one in particular. His foot caught on a rug that shouldn't have been there, and he landed face down on the floor. The teen didn't bother to roll over, and muttered into the carpet, "I'm not Cyborg without my tech... Wait a second."

He rolled onto his back as he was suddenly struck by some sort of revelation, "That's not my real name. What's my real name?"

As the footsteps of the predator grew closer and closer, he tried with all of his might to remember who he was.

"Victor! I'm Victor Stone!", he exclaimed excitedly.

In an instant, the beast was upon him, warm drool dripped from its large fangs onto the African-American teen's frozen face. "I'm Victor Stone, but I'm also Cyborg," he mused.

"Which means _you're_ in for the butt whoopin' of your life!", he stated with a sly smile. The teenager extended his fist, and it immediately became a sonic cannon which blasted the creature through the far wall.

"Booyah."

–

Starfire was blindsided by a large hairy projectile that crashed through the wall and knocked her to the ground. She roughly shoved it off and rolled to her feet, realizing that she suddenly had two adversaries to deal with.

"X'hal," she swore venomously as the creature rose with a snarl. It sniffed the air, and immediately turned on the shadowy figure that she had been in the middle of fighting with.

The monster lunged at the man, and crashed through the wall when he expertly dodged the attack. The caped man then followed the creature through the hole in the wall, and resumed fighting the thing.

The alien princess sighed with relief as she sunk down onto the floor to rest. Her reprieve was short lived, as another figure emerged from the direction from whence the creature came. "Yo! What are you doing here, Blackfire?", the cybernetic teen demanded. She leaped to her feet with excitement, "Cyborg!"

"Stay over there if you know what's good for you," he warned as he trained his cannon on her. She blinked in surprise, "But I am not Blackfire, I am your friend and teammate Starfire!" His single human eye narrowed, "Nice try."

She raised her hands peacefully, "It is true! I awoke in my room that did not look like my room, and I did not look like myself, but a human Blackfire! I could not fly, and _he_ would not listen, and-"

"Alright," he interrupted, "Prove it!"

She rubbed her chin thoughtfully for a while, "There was the one time that you consumed the milk of soy, and told me that it was 'not bad', but pleaded that I not share it with anyone because you wished to continue teasing Beast Boy."

His eye grew wide, "Star? That's you?" She gave him a bright smile, and shot forward to give him a tight hug. Once he had been released, Cyborg frowned, "Wait a sec. _Beast Boy_!" Starfire's purple eyes grew wide, "That creature..."

"Aw man," the cybernetic teen whined as he trudged toward the crashes and snarls of an ongoing battle.

He froze in the makeshift doorway, "Uh Star? Is that who I think it is?" She frowned, "Do not worry about him. Help Beast Boy." Her eyes and hands sparked with fluorescent fuchsia energy, and she shot off toward the daunting caped man.

She managed to ram into his side and knock him to the ground while Cyborg caught the monster's attention. It began stalking toward him, and he put his hands out in a calming manner, "Calm down, BB. This ain't you, man." He stared into its empty eyes, and saw nothing but pure animal instinct.

"Beast Boy, you're not a monster," he said calmly. It slammed into him, and the creature's claws dug into the metal on his chest. "I know you're in there, man. I know you're afraid of this, but I'm _not_, cause I know you. You're strong enough to fight this thing, so fight it!", he urged as the massive drooling creature drew closer to his face.

It stiffened, and its eyes went wide. It stared at the cybernetic teen curiously before it stepped away from him and began to shrink down into human form. Beast Boy offered his hand to help Cyborg up, which the other teen accepted.

"Thanks for that, Cy," he said with a grateful smile. "No problem man," he responded nonchalantly. The green teen was finally alerted to the sound of the battle behind him, and whirled around to see what the commotion was.

"Uh, dude? Why are Blackfire and Batman fighting in our living room?"

* * *

**A/N: One of my favorite lines in this story.**

**Things got crazy for me this week. I don't really talk about my personal life on the internet, but I'm alive, and that's what you guys care about. I edited this really quickly so I could get in a quick update after a review made me realize that I had forgotten to add to The Chaos Plane. If you see any issues with typos, please know that it was because I was in a rush. **

**I'll try to get more chapters to you soon!**

**Review!**

**~Rose**


	17. Bleak

**Chapter 17: Bleak **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans**

* * *

"Uh, dude? Why are Blackfire and Batman fighting in our living room?"

"Actually, that's Starfire," Cyborg corrected. "Oh okay," Beast Boy accepted without question. The Tamaranean girl squeaked as she narrowly avoided a kick to the face, "Friends, your assistance would be most appreciated!" Cyborg readied his sonic cannon, "Coming, Star!"

"Dude, that's Batman!", Beast Boy whispered as he tried to halt his best friend's progress.

The African-American teen ignored his friend's warning, and planted himself between the Caped Crusader and a very worn out Starfire. "Step aside," commanded the cool calculating voice. "No," Cyborg responded matter-of-factly.

"You're making this more difficult than it has to be. Step. _Aside._", Batman warned emotionlessly.

"Why don't you make me?", he challenged. "If you insist," the cloaked figure responded as he retrieved a batarang from his utility belt. Beast Boy looked around the room, and suddenly marched right up to the Dark Knight, pointing an accusatory finger at his face,

"You're not Batman."

Cyborg stared at the teen as if he'd grown an extra head.

"He's all the things you don't wanna be, isn't that right, _Robin_?"

Beast Boy stepped forward with an uncharacteristically serious expression, "It's like every day you notice something else about you that's just like him, and it freaks you out. But dude, he was your mentor, and I'll bet he was just like family to you. When you learn everything you know from somebody, you kinda keep a little part of them with you."

"Believe it or not, there's a lot of stuff I picked up from Mento, and even though I don't like the way he does things, it doesn't mean that that being like him is a bad thing. Same goes for Batman, dude."

The cold expression in the Caped Crusader's eyes softened, "Beast Boy... Thanks." A wide fanged grin stretched across the green teenager's face, "Anytime."

"So, we were facing some of our worst fears," Cyborg mused, "I was human and couldn't remember my name because I'm afraid that I let my tech define me, BB was the Beast because he's afraid of losing his humanity, Robin was scared of becoming Batman, and Starfire... Uh, why are you afraid of being Blackfire?"

The Tamaranean girl twirled her black hair around her index finger nervously, "I believe I awoke as a human version of my sister because...I am afraid that a day will come that I am not strong enough. Either physically or mentally. I do not wish to become like my sister, and I do not wish to be a coward."

She hung her head in shame, but the Batman imposter placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Star, being afraid doesn't make you a coward. When you keep fighting, even though you're scared out of your mind; that makes you brave."

She smiled and lifted her eyes to his, "Thank you, Robin."

"Uh, that's nice and all, but can we hurry up and figure out how to get out of here?", Beast Boy whined.

Cyborg frowned, "We were in the middle of something right before we woke up here. What was it?" Starfire paced around, "Perhaps we were doing battle?" Robin rubbed his chin, "I think so. I can't remember who we were fighting, though."

Beast Boy rubbed the back of his neck, "I think it started with an 'S'. Or maybe it was a 'P'..."

"P and S, they were significant letters, yes?", Starfire stated uncertainly. "Put this Piece Somewhere Safe...", Cyborg muttered under his breath.

"PSIMON!", they all exclaimed in unison.

Instantly, they all came to, and Starfire found herself staring into the bright blue eyes of a masked redhead. "Oh good, you're awake," the girl grunted, "Can you put me down now?" The alien princess apologized and lowered the girl to the ground. "Please, who are you? And what is this device around my head?", she inquired earnestly once the caped girl had her feet on the ground.

"I'm Batgirl, and you must be Starfire," the redhead responded with a bubbly smile. The Tamaranean girl gasped, "You are The Batman's other protege!"

"Uh nice to see you again, Batgirl. What brings you to Jump City?" Robin asked a little too professionally.

The girl crossed her arms across her chest, "Oh you know, I was just passing through and decided to free you from Psimon's mind control. No big deal." He nervously tugged on his collar, "I suppose you could tell us what's going on?"

She frowned, "Psimon has a metahuman army. We have to act fast, before he notices that you guys are missing." Beast Boy whimpered, "We have to fight a whole army?"

Batgirl grimaced, "Unfortunately."

–

"You laughed when I said I didn't want Psimon killed," the sorceress mused quietly.

Kyd Wykkyd nodded absentmindedly, and kept his eyes trained on the camera feeds. "Why?", she asked. He gave her a quizzical look, as if he hadn't understood what she meant. She tilted her head forward and drew her pale lips into a frown, as if to say, "You know what I meant".

Elliot took a deep breath before speaking, 'Given the predicament, killing him seemed like the only answer. I honestly thought you were joking.'

"If you thought that was the best way, why didn't you argue about it? You guys outnumber us; you could have won," she asked emotionlessly. 'Because... my time with you has shown me that the obvious way isn't always the best way,' he responded calmly.

The sorceress studied him quietly, seemingly pondering something profound. He managed to resist the temptation to look up, and kept his crimson eyes fixed on the screen before him. "You mean, you don't _want_ to kill him," she stated cumulatively.

Kyd Wykkyd shrugged. "The fact that you laughed suggests that you thought nothing of a little collateral damage in the past," Raven continued.

'I've done a few jobs with mercenaries, but killing was never fun for me. So I left it alone,' he answered. Raven pursed her lips, "Why the sudden change of heart?" Elliot huffed a soundless laugh, 'What change?'

The room in which they sat was small and dark; the light that illuminated Elliot's partially masked face emanated only from the five screens before them. Raven knew that their mission was dangerous, and she realized that these few quiet moments might very well be her last.

She swallowed uncomfortably as she pondered whether she should attempt to say something touching to the person she had traveled with for nearly four months. She turned different ideas over in her mind, before realizing that she would most likely never find suitable words.

'The Titans are very fortunate,' Wykkyd interrupted in a whisper of a mental voice.

Raven snapped out of her reverie, and gazed at him quizzically. He met her confused gaze with an uncharacteristically emotionless expression, 'I realize that most people I interact with are the scum of the Earth, but for what it's worth, you're the most loyal and courageous person I have ever met.'

She felt her cheeks grow warm as she realized that he was giving her a compliment, and she forced herself not to break eye-contact. He offered her a genuine smile, 'They're lucky to call you their friend.'

The sorceress's mouth turned down in a slight frown, "Aren't _we_ friends?" His smile suddenly turned mischievous, 'Don't you have some moral code that prohibits that?' She rolled her eyes and responded with a huff, "That was a ridiculous question, and you know it."

His shoulders shook with a silent chuckle, and he leaned back against the wall. He saw her eyes sparkle with slight amusement, and then watched as she assumed her standard poker-face.

As he contemplated the minuscule variations in her expressions, he realized that he felt an attachment to her that he couldn't quite explain. Though he called See-More his best friend, and he'd had a girlfriend before, it was apparent that he had never _truly_ cared about someone before.

He was on this crazy trip with Raven because she was important enough to him that he couldn't let her go it alone.

He was willing to risk his own life to protect hers. Suddenly, her reasoning for heading into such a hopeless situation became evident to him. She thought nothing of risking her own life because she genuinely cared about her friends.

Raven loved the Titans enough that she wouldn't allow them to go it alone either.

–

"Looks like you've gotten pretty popular in the past few weeks," Robin called from his high vantage point.

The telepath chuckled darkly and turned to face the group of five teens at a leisurely pace, which only served to infuriate the teen hero. "Ah, I see you filled the open position on your team. Splendid," he commented with a sparkle of amusement in his eye.

Beast Boy shifted forward angrily, as Psimon's observation seemed to hit a nerve, but Robin motioned for him to stop. The telepath tapped his chin thoughtfully, "Though, I do believe you downgraded a bit. Don't you think?" Batgirl narrowed her eyes, but said nothing. "Did you barge in here just to chat?", he questioned mischievously.

"Nothing to talk about. Your fifteen minutes of fame are up. We're taking you off the air," Robin announced confidently.

"This is the part where I'm supposed to insert a cliche question that serves to point out your obvious lack of an army," Psimon stated in a bored tone before his pale face stretched into a malicious smile, "-and then I'm supposed to show off my own."

Immediately the large screen behind Psimon showed rows of metahumans lined up outside of the base. Beast Boy let out an exclamation of surprise and backed into Cyborg, who glared at him in disapproval. The cybernetic teen shook his head at his green companion, "We already knew he had an army, man."

"That _so_ doesn't make it any less scary," Beast Boy snapped defensively.

"Titans!", Robin shouted with authority. Beast Boy and Cyborg instantly forgot about their impending squabble and snapped to attention.

The steel doors at the other end of the large room slid open, and all five teens stared out at their approaching adversaries with expressions of sheer determination.

"GO!"

–

Batgirl's vision flickered as her head connected with the concrete floor. For a few seconds, she hadn't a clue where she was, but the quick jolt of pain that followed served as a harsh reminder. She rolled to her feet as quickly as possible, and jumped out of the path of an incoming arrow. Her brief feeling of relief was cut short as she realized that it had circled around and was coming back.

"Heat seeking arrow? Really?", she shouted to no one in particular as she sprinted in the opposite direction. She reached the far wall and leaped, kicking off of it and rolling as she hit the ground. The arrow wasn't able to compensate and exploded as it impacted the wall. The redhead mentally sighed as she thought of how they were struggling against such a small portion of the army.

It was obvious that Psimon was making sport of them; there was no other reason why the telepath would leave the majority of his Jump City troops outside of the building.

Before she knew it, the ground began to crumble beneath her, and she frantically shot her grappling gun upward. Hanging in mid-air, she gazed down at the hole her feet now dangled over, and thanked her lucky stars that she had remembered to bring the gadget along.

Jinx stepped forward menacingly with one hand outstretched; pink energy danced on her fingertips. A multicolored blur suddenly tackled the girl to the ground, sending the hex across the room to collapse part of the ceiling. Batgirl took the golden opportunity to swing to and fro on the rope until she was able to jump to the edge of the hole.

Robin was engaged in hand to hand combat with the bad luck sorceress, and seemed to be wearing down. Batgirl retrieved a small metal capsule from her utility belt and tossed it to the ground beneath Jinx's feet.

"Hold!", she yelled forcefully, and Robin immediately held his breath. The capsule hissed as it emitted a cloud of knock out gas. The pink-haired girl sluggishly crumpled onto the floor. The Boy Wonder wiped his brow and offered a tired smile to his former partner, "Thanks, Babs."

Beast Boy proudly stood over the unconscious form of Aqualad. He turned to Cyborg, who was in the midst of a fight with Mammoth and Bumble Bee, and shouted boastingly, "Dude, did you see that? I totally whooped fish boy's butt!"

Cyborg groaned as he received a punch in the chest, "Sorry, I'm just a little busy fighting everybody else!"

Beast Boy frowned and prepared to retort, but was forced to duck out of the way of an arrow. Speedy was perched on a rafter, assailing the Titans from his aerial point of view. Beast Boy transformed into a hawk and made a bee-line for the archer, narrowly dodging arrows along the way.

He managed to snatch the quiver from Speedy's back, and dropped it into the hole that Batgirl had nearly fallen into.

As he flew, he assessed the battlefield. Mas and Menos were tied up on opposite sides of the room, Jinx was unconscious, Speedy was out of arrows, and Aqualad was sprawled on the floor. Starfire was fighting See-More, who had surrounded himself with a force field and was shooting lasers through it.

It seemed that her starbolts had little effect on the barrier, and she was growing weary. Robin and Batgirl faced off against Billy Numerous, who seemed to have them surrounded. Beast Boy noticed that Bumble Bee and Mammoth were still ganging up on Cyborg, and decided to help him out.

He dove toward Bumble Bee's head, causing her to duck. Beast Boy swiftly transformed into a bear and swiped at her with his claws. She shrunk down to insect size and began to dart around him stinging whatever she could reach.

He growled in pain and transformed into a humming bird, so as to even the playing field. Cyborg was grateful for Beast Boy's intervention, but could not deny that he was struggling. A quick glance at his teammates confirmed that he was not the only one.

"They're everywhere," Batgirl huffed as she threw a freeze disk at another one of Billy Numerous's clones. Robin hurled a few birdarangs at his adversaries and stepped back until his back was against Batgirl's, "We need a plan."

The redhead's arms shook with exertion as she asked, "How did you take him out before?" Robin's eyes narrowed beneath his mask, "That's not going to work this time." Psimon's cold chuckle sliced through the air, "Your methods of defeating your enemies are so predictable. How boring."

The Titans continued fighting as if he hadn't spoken. The telepath tapped his chin, and then smiled maliciously,

"Oh, I know! Psimon says...make it more interesting."

Batgirl leaped up to kick an advancing Billy, and suddenly found herself sailing through the air. She slammed into Starfire, and both of them tumbled to the ground. By the time she came to her senses, the battlefield looked much different. Cyborg was hanging from a rafter, Beast Boy was in a hog-tie, and Robin was skidding across the floor on his back.

The masked redhead realized that all of the opponents they had defeated were suddenly back on their feet, and in the middle of the room stood three new adversaries: Kid Flash, Hot Spot, and Killowat. Robin quickly scanned the room and realized that their chances of winning the battle were very slim.

He took a deep breath and shouted, "Titans! We're not going down without a fight!"

"I hoped you would say something like that," the telepath mused delightedly. Then, with a snap of Psimon's fingers, the mind controlled teens attacked.

* * *

**A/N: So we're in the thick of the battle now. Thoughts? Theories?**

**I think the next chapter is going to be the conclusion of the battle, and I'll ask an important question at the end, which will determine how much information will be in the epilogue.**

**Review!**

**~Rose**


	18. Nothing

**Chapter 18: Nothing**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans.**

* * *

Debris was strewn across the large room; the walls and ceiling were riddled with holes from laser blasts, exploding disks, and other battle related incidents. Sweat poured down the Boy Wonder's face as he attempted to fight Billy Numerous and Hot Spot at the same time.

Each time one of the Titans would get the upper hand, Kid Flash would rearrange the battlefield once again. "Dude, he's totally cheating," Beast Boy whined after he inexplicably found himself in front of Mammoth while in mouse form.

For the first time in quite a while, the Teen Titans were fighting a losing battle. Psimon watched intently as the events unfolded, tweaking the playing field as he saw fit. Starfire locked eyes with the telepath, who seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself.

"This is simply a game to you, is it not?", she accused breathlessly as she shot bright energy beams from her eyes, which Psimon lazily deflected with a force field. Hot Spot suddenly slammed into her, ramming them both into the wall.

The telepath breathed in deeply, as if savoring the moment, "But what a wonderful game it is."

"Game over," announced a rasping voice that seemed to emanate from every which direction. In an instant, Psimon was narrowly dodging punches and kicks from two caped assailants.

"Raven!", the Titans joyously cried in the midst of their own battles. Kyd Wykkyd seemed to flitter in and out of existence as he continuously teleported between kicks and jabs. Raven used a combination of combat and energy attacks.

Not once did one get in the way of the other; their movements seemed almost synchronized, as if battle were a dance they had practiced to perfection. Though the telepath managed to dodge or deflect all of their attacks, he didn't seem to be performing as effortlessly as usual.

His breathing became slightly heavier, and his arrogant chuckle sounded a bit winded, "I must say, I'm impressed that you two managed to escape."

A force field pulsed out, catching the sorceress and teleporter off guard and knocking them backward. Both of them landed in a crouch before him, seemingly unfazed.

"Your plan was rather half-baked, however. Freeing the Teen Titans? So predictable," he mused mockingly.

"Kyd?", an unexpected female voice emanated from the battlefield, which had become strangely silent. Psimon's expression went blank as he stared beyond Raven and Kyd Wykkyd at the pink-haired girl who had spoken.

Elliot glanced over his shoulder and gave Jinx a silent nod. Raven smirked at the telepath, who seemed taken aback.

"I believe our associates have dismantled your amplifier."

–

Red X stared at the control panel of the ceramic amplifier, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "If I cut the blue wire, it should turn off. But I turn it off, will that cancel the telepathic commands...or make them permanent?", he murmured to himself.

"Just hurry up and do something already!", Cheshire yelled angrily as she backflipped out of the path of Gizmo's laser.

"Can't rush perfection, babe," he stated slyly as he continued to inspect the machine.

The boy genius aimed the laser at Red X's back, and Cheshire leaped forward just in time to deflect the blast with her claw knives.

Gizmo advanced on his four spider-like mechanical legs, shooting lasers all the while. The girl in the cat mask ran toward him at full speed, dodging blasts gracefully. When she drew near enough, she dropped onto her back and slid underneath him feet first, slicing two of his mecha legs in half with her knives.

The newly unbalanced boy genius fell sideways, and his backpack converted into a winged jet pack as he took to the air. "The brat _flies_ too?", She exclaimed incredulously.

While Cheshire continued to fight the boy, Red X stared at the panel blankly. Suddenly he slapped the palm of his hand to his face, "Duh! I'll just hack it." He connected one of the cords to the portable computer panel on his wrist and began furiously typing.

Cheshire ran and jumped at a wall, kicked off, and landed on Gizmo's back. Then the boy genius shook his head, as if snapping out of a trance, "What the crud-?" Suddenly Gizmo and Cheshire were both toppling to the ground. The assassin angrily rolled into a crouch after landing on her back.

"Maybe you should rethink the whole cat theme. Humpty Dumpty sounds more your speed," Red X teased.

In a flash, her knives were at his neck, "Maybe I should go with Guillotine."

"Hey Sludge Heads, move it or lose it!", Gizmo yelled. Both masked teens leaped out of the way as the boy genius fired a small explosive disk, which started a countdown to detonation. The three of them bolted from the room, and the metal door slid shut right before the amplifier exploded.

Gizmo turned to Red X and Cheshire, "You two go out there and make sure that snot brain knows you took that machine down." The masked girl crossed her arms, "Who do you think you are?"

"The guy who knows about the fail-safe," Gizmo yelled.

–

Psimon raised an eyebrow at his teenage adversaries, "You distracted me so that someone else could take my amplifier down?" Red X and Cheshire teleported directly behind Raven and Kyd Wykkyd. A slow smile crept onto Batgirl's face, "You weren't expecting that."

He chuckled darkly, "Indeed I wasn't. Very impressive plan."

He turned his back to them and gestured to the large screen, which displayed the meta-troops that were still stationed outside of the capital buildings of nations.

"How are you still controlling them?", Robin shouted. The Boy Wonder immediately realized that they were now being broadcasted live, in the exact same way Psimon had broadcasted his initial worldwide announcement.

He whirled around with a disturbingly wide smile, "And it almost worked." An excruciating mental screech suddenly assaulted all of the teens' minds, forcing them to their knees.

"People of the world, I interrupt your regularly scheduled entertainment to deliver some amazing news. This rag-tag group of teenagers infiltrated my base and executed an admittedly brilliant plan. They managed to destroy my amplifier machine, thus breaking my control over those that you see here. What they didn't know, was that I thought of everything."

Psimon leisurely made his way over to where Raven crouched, clutching the sides of her head in pain, and landed a solid kick to her ribs, resulting in a sharp popping noise as a few bones cracked.

"Raven!", Beast Boy yelled helplessly. She tumbled onto her side, desiring nothing more than to make the man pay, but unable to think clearly enough to do so. He stepped over her and made his way to the back of the room, stopping in front of the Boy Wonder.

"Robin asked how I'm still controlling my meta-troops. I'll answer that question for everyone: satellites that transmit a steady signal to localized nanobots. Don't bother looking for them; they're everywhere. Disguised as gnats. You see, my superior intellect cannot be matched."

"You wont...get away...with this," Robin grunted with difficulty.

Psimon sneered and crouched down so that he was eye level with the teen. "I already have," he whispered before telekinetically sending Robin crashing into the far wall. "No!", the alien princess screamed.

He walked toward Batgirl, a sinister smile in place. Starfire lurched forward and planted herself in the man's path, trembling arms outstretched as if to bar his way. "NO MORE!", she commanded as forcefully as she could.

Psimon's expression didn't change, but the intensity of the mental screech intensified so that a chorus of pained noises arose from the afflicted teens. Starfire gritted her teeth in determination, willing herself to remain standing, but she too crumpled to the ground eventually. Psimon stepped around her and approached Batgirl, "You were correct in saying that I did not anticipate your plan, but you have accomplished nothing by dismantling the amplifier. I still hold all the cards."

The telepath made his way back to the front of the room and faced the camera, speaking clearly and methodically, "Citizens of the world, my power is absolute. Observe the consequences of challenging that power."

Psimon approached Cheshire, who attempted a weak stab at him with her knives, which he avoided easily. He quickly removed the command-blocking headband and gazed into her eyes, "Psimon says..."

He pointed straight at Raven, who lay in the same pained position on the ground.

"...KILL."

Cheshire expertly rose from her spot on the floor and brandished her claw knives before lurching toward the sorceress.

A sudden roar filled the room as Scarlet descended from the A/C duct and grew as large as the building would allow. Psimon stumbled backward in surprise, and his face drained of color as he realized that the crimson monster was after him. "New target!", he yelled.

Scarlet took in a deep breath, and Psimon watched in horror as flames began to build in her mouth, knowing that they were aimed at him. Elliot smirked and watched the telepath intently, with a macabre anticipation of watching the man burn.

The jet of flames missed the top of his head by a foot, and then sloppily traveled up the wall and onto the ceiling. Confusion washed over Elliot, and his eyes darted from the telepath to the shaky scorch marks on the roof.

Scarlet was always a good shot; Psimon should have been burning alive. He turned to see if the dragon was going to try again, and suddenly it became hard to breathe.

Time seemed to stand still as he watched Cheshire jerk her claw knives out of Scarlet's scaly chest. The beautiful reptile's head was still pointed at the ceiling, her wings outstretched, looking as if she were an ethereal work of art.

Then she crumpled to the ground; her right wing making a series of sickening cracking sounds as it awkwardly folded under the full weight of her body. Her head bounced unceremoniously on the cement as she let loose one more jet of fire, accompanied by a wrenching screech of pain, that quickly faded into nothingness.

Nothingness.

Nothing.

Elliot lunged into a standing position and started lurching toward Psimon, who continued to increase the intensity of the mental screech. Kyd Wykkyd refused to back down, and his rage served to dull the pain.

The telepath realized that the teen was still advancing, and decided to use all of his energy on the approaching nuisance, giving Elliot the full blast of his mental screech. Though the force of the mental attack should have rendered the cowled teen unconscious, still he continued to advance with gritted teeth.

Psimon smirked, "New target."

Kyd Wykkyd watched in his peripheral vision as Cheshire barreled toward him, and he turned to face her at the last minute. The cowled teen expertly avoided the knives and teleported to her left, where he grabbed her wrist and quickly stole her left claw knives.

She twisted around to stab him with her right, and he teleported into the air and landed a knockout kick to her temple.

Gizmo's voice echoed through the P.A. System, "I've disabled the satellites. Meta-troops are history."

A cheer echoed through the room, and See-More called to his friend, "We won, Kyd! Good job!"

Elliot teleported in front of Psimon. 'New target,' Wykkyd hissed mentally before burying the knives in the telepath's chest.

A wave of satisfaction washed over him as Psimon crumpled to the ground, serving to dull the ache of everything else.

He whirled around and was met by varying expressions of shock and fear. "Kyd. You killed him," See-More gaped incredulously. Mammoth stared at the ground while Billy got sick in the corner. Elliot looked down and realized that his uniform was smeared with blood.

He wondered how that would have happened. Wykkyd reluctantly looked to Raven, who had made her way over to where Scarlet lay. They locked eyes, and instead of hatred, or even disappointment, he was shocked to find compassion amidst the sadness in her lilac eyes.

Jinx approached him slowly, and stopped in front of him. She glanced at the motionless dragon and then wrapped her arms around him tightly. "I'm so sorry! I should have done something", she whimpered as she buried her face in his chest.

'Nothing,' he whispered.

Jinx lifted her head so that she could see his face, and he noticed that her costume was now smeared with blood as well.

"What?", she asked uncomprehendingly.

'Nothing you could have done.'

"Elliot!", Raven rasped urgently. The cowled teen whipped around, and saw a palpable change in the sorceress's expression.

Hope brightened her features as she announced breathlessly, "She's still breathing!"

* * *

**A/N: On a scale of 1 to 10, how angry are you guys?**

**IMPORTANT QUESTION: I have two versions of the epilogue (which is in story format, not summary format). One is longer and has more details, the other is shorter and leaves more to the imagination.**

**I'm leaning toward the more detailed one. What do you guys think?**

**~Rose**


	19. Epilogue

**Chapter 19: Epilogue**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans**

* * *

The celebration of Raven's return brought a joy that had been missing from the Tower for quite a while. The 'Welcome Back' party had been thrown together very quickly by Starfire, who wished to do something to get the image of Psimon's demise off of her mind. The Titans East and a few other honorary Titans were among the attendees.

Raven sat amidst the party commotion and gazed out through the large windows at the bay, watching the light dance on the water. Beast Boy took a seat on the couch next to her, offering her a mug of steaming tea. She smiled wistfully and accepted it, "I really missed this."

"Oh, you probably didn't have this kind of tea wherever you were, huh?", he reasoned. Raven shrugged, "I missed all of it." He chuckled, "Girl likes her tea." She frowned and lightly shoved him, "That's not what I meant." She paused and looked around, "I missed this. The Tower, my friends..."

Beast Boy arced an eyebrow slyly, "Sooo...you're saying you missed _me._" Raven furrowed her brow as she tried to figure out how to escape the hole she had started digging. "It was my wicked good looks, right?", he questioned jokingly. "How could you tell?", she rasped sarcastically.

"I missed you too," he admitted with a genuine smile, "Welcome back, Rae." "I thought I told you not to call me that," she snapped halfheartedly as she lifted her mug to her lips. "Heeey Raveeen," Cyborg called in a sing-song voice. She froze out of habit, remembering that Cyborg only used that tone of voice on special occasions.

"Wanna play a game of capture the flag?", Robin continued excitedly. The sorceress remained silent for a few seconds. "City-wide?", she inquired. Starfire nodded enthusiastically. "Are powers allowed?", she questioned further. Cyborg answered boisterously, "You know it!" Raven deliberated a few seconds more, and then narrowed her eyes, "I'm in."

A deafening cheer erupted from the rest of the super teens.

–

The black haired boy entered the cafe and was hit by a wave of nostalgia. The unintelligible indie music and smell of coffee reminded him of the days when everything made sense. Villains were evil. Heroes fought villains. 'Friend' was just another word for someone you associated yourself with and was allowed to enter your general vicinity.

He adjusted the sunglasses that hid his crimson eyes before approaching the counter and ringing the bell. "Coming," a familiar voice called from the back. Shortly, Julie emerged from the kitchen and froze in her tracks. "Elliot!", she shouted excitedly, and rushed around the counter so that she could hug him.

"Where have you been? You haven't been here in so long, I thought something happened to you!", she babbled loudly. He patted her shoulder with an apologetic expression, and she paused as she tried to remember something. "Oh! The notebook!", she exclaimed, and ran to fetch it.

She returned with the notebook and a pen, and offered it to Elliot. "What would you like?", Julie asked cheerfully. 'Soup?', he scrawled on the pad. "We have chicken noodle today," she replied. He nodded his approval and she walked back to the kitchen. The dark haired boy made his way over to his usual booth in the back and took a seat by the window.

He noticed that the streets seemed much less crowded than he remembered. Julie approached with a tray carrying two steaming bowls of soup and a basket of toasted bread, which she placed on the table in front of him. He gave her a confused look, and she shrugged, "I haven't taken my lunch break today, so I figured I'd eat with you."

He nodded his understanding and pointed out at the streets before writing on the notepad. 'Empty', it read. Julie laughed and shook her head, "Everyone's been celebrating this week, since the world takeover was stopped. The city's been kinda dead during the day; everyone's got a hangover."

Elliot smiled in amusement, and Julie pointed to the television that was mounted in the corner of the room. "Plus no one wants to get in the way of _that_," she admitted with a laugh in her voice.

The screen showed an aerial view of the city, and it took the boy a few seconds to register that News Channel 3 was reporting on what appeared to be some sort of Titan to Titan conflict.

He turned to Julie for an explanation. "They're playing capture the flag," she giggled. Elliot wondered who decided that an aerial play-by-play of such a game should be aired as news, before realizing that most citizens were grateful to see that the most interesting event of the day was reduced to a friendly game of glorified tag. "It's great to have them back," Julie commented before raising her spoon to her mouth. Elliot nodded and followed her example.

"So where were you?", the pretty brunette asked conversationally. He shrugged and took another bite, hoping to avoid the question. She frowned and started poking at her soup with her spoon, "Sometimes I think you're not actually mute, and you just don't like to talk."

He laughed silently and wrote on the paper, 'I was out of town.' Julie furrowed her brow, "Why?" 'Something unpleasant that I couldn't get out of,' he scrawled his reply. She grimaced apologetically, "Oh, sorry for bringing it up." He shrugged again and continued eating.

"Do you have an opinion on the execution?", she asked quietly. Elliot nearly choked on his bread, and stared at her blankly as he wondered if he had heard her correctly. "I was watching when the battle was being broadcasted live, and I saw the guy get killed. Some people think it was wrong, and some support it," she murmured in a low voice.

The pale boy took a deep breath before writing, 'What do you think?' The quirky brunette gazed at the ceiling for a while, "I don't know. I've never seen something like that before. I don't think I have a right to judge; maybe he thought he was doing the right thing."

They ate their soup in silence for a long time, when Julie jumped at the sound of the bell at the front counter, "Oops! Better get back to work!" She rose, picked up her bowl, and speed walked back to the front of the cafe to greet the middle-aged businessman who had just entered. Elliot stared at the table, wondering where his life would lead.

After the battle, he had teleported himself and his team back to the HIVE 5 base before the heroes in the room could capture him. He hadn't left his room in the three days since the incident, and though he had returned with them, he didn't feel any desire to be part of the team anymore. Stealing seemed so pointless; he already had everything he needed.

After killing Psimon, Elliot felt lost. He had been faced with a decision, and deep down he knew that he had chosen wrong. Why had everything been so different in the Chaos Plane? In that world, he had a purpose. Here, there was nothing to drive him.

He jumped with surprise as someone slid into the seat across from him. He met Raven's purple eyes and offered a strained smile. "You look...distracted," she noted. He nodded and took a bite of his lukewarm soup while speaking mentally, 'How is she?'

The corners of the sorceress's lips twitched upward in a half smile, "She's still unconscious, but recovering." He sighed with relief and stared out through the window. 'I'm leaving,' he murmured in a soft mental voice. Raven raised an eyebrow, "_Leaving_?"

The dark haired teen nodded, 'When she gets better.' The sorceress watched him impassively before speaking, "Please elaborate." Elliot removed his sunglasses and looked her in the eye. 'There's no place for me here,' he stated matter-of-factly. "I thought you were with the HIVE," she rasped.

He sighed and raked his hand through his messy hair, 'I've always felt empty, but my time in the Chaos Plane changed me. Stealing for the sake of a thrill is no longer enough to distract me from the fact that my life has no purpose.'

"Then find one," Raven snapped.

Elliot chuckled silently, 'I plan to, but I can't do it here.'

The sorceress rolled her eyes, "And going somewhere else will magically solve your identity crisis? An external solution can never remedy an internal problem." She rose from her spot at the table and turned to walk away. "We'll continue this discussion later. I have a game to win," she added, and then phased through the floor.

Julie came to collect Elliot's bowl, and he scrambled to get his sunglasses on. She gave him a questioning look, but continued as if nothing had happened. He rummaged through his wallet for cash, but realized that he only had his emergency debit card.

He frowned disappointedly, but handed it to the brunette anyway. She smiled kindly and called over her shoulder as she rushed away to the kitchen, "I'll be right back with your receipt!" Everyone in the cafe flinched as something exploded a few blocks away.

Capture the flag must have gotten pretty intense.

–

Roughly two weeks after the world was freed from Psimon's control, the streets of Jump City were again buzzing with people. The sorceress strolled down the street at a leisurely pace, her blue cloak billowing in the breeze.

The citizens of Jump were long accustomed to the presence of the Titan, but today she attracted a bit more attention than usual. She turned a corner and entered her usual cafe.

Julie stood bent over the counter reading what appeared to be a newspaper. She looked up as Raven approached, and she immediately zeroed in on the sleeping creature draped across her shoulders. The brunette's eyes grew as wide as saucers. "I-Is that a dragon?", she stuttered.

The sorceress smirked and answered in a low voice, "This is Scarlet. I realize that you have a no pets policy, but I assure you that she is not a pet." The small dragon stirred, and Julie bit her lip, "Well, the sign does say '_pet_'. It says nothing about companions of a different species." Raven nodded, "Can I get some Chamomile tea for here?" Scarlet opened her eyes and sniffed the air, communicating that she was hungry.

"And a large plate of meat, I suppose," the sorceress tacked on to the end of her request.

The crimson dragon seemed to zero in on something across the room. 'Elliot!', she yelled joyfully as she shot through the air. The dark haired boy on the other end of the room caught Scarlet as she dove toward him and wrapped her in a tight hug.

The other customers stared for a few moments, but quickly lost interest upon seeing the Teen Titan at the counter, presumably because they reasoned that Raven could handle the lizard if it became a problem. "Wow, she really likes Elliot!", the brunette remarked as she rushed into the kitchen to prepare Raven's order.

The sorceress made her way over to Kyd Wykkyd's usual booth, where he sat holding Scarlet against his chest much like one would hold a newborn baby. Her voice sounded in both Raven and Elliot's minds, 'Raven showed me the recording of your victory! It was marvelously bloody, although it _is_ regrettable that you broke your promise.'

He sighed silently, 'You scared me. I thought you were dead.' Raven snickered, "Didn't you say fear was for the weak?" Elliot seemed to deliberate for a second, but decided that he could not win such an argument.

The violet-haired sorceress took a seat across from him and gazed out the window at the bustling street. "Have you thought about whether you're going to leave or not?", she inquired in her signature monotone.

Elliot brushed his black hair from his eyes, 'I was waiting to talk to Scarlet.' 'About what?', the fiery little dragon demanded. He smiled at her, 'I'm thinking about returning to the Chaos Plane together. I wanted to ask what you thought about it.' Raven showed no emotion, but watched Scarlet intently.

'I will go wherever you go,' the dragon answered resolutely. The sorceress sighed, "I don't think returning to the inter-dimensional prison is the brightest idea. You aren't exactly popular over there."

Elliot grimaced as he noticed that the television was replaying key moments from the battle, including Scarlet's injury and the demise of Psimon at his own hands. 'I'm not exactly popular _here_,' he admitted ruefully.

He glanced up as Julie placed Raven's mug and Scarlet's plate on the table. Her expression seemed off somehow, and Elliot scrawled a few words on a napkin, 'You okay?'

She looked at Scarlet and spoke in a low voice, "She was the dragon from the battle, wasn't she?" Raven nodded in confirmation, and Julie seemed to be thinking. Her face remained blank, and she suddenly snatched the sunglasses from the black haired boy's face.

Her expression changed slightly, "Elliot, you were the one on the news, weren't you?" His bright red eyes narrowed infinitesimally as he tried to decide whether to ask her to keep his secret or to teleport away. Raven stared into her eyes with extreme intensity, "He's also your friend." Julie nodded, "Oh, don't worry about it. My lips are sealed." She made a zipping motion in front of her face.

She leaned toward Elliot and whispered, "Are you really mute?" Kyd Wykkyd nodded, and Julie walked back to the kitchen as if nothing had happened. Raven raised an eyebrow, "Can you trust her?"

He shrugged, 'Not sure. I guess it doesn't matter, since I'm going back to the Chaos Plane anyway.' The sorceress nodded, "I can open a portal for you. It would be much faster than flying to Bermuda." Elliot nodded, 'Today?'

"Sure. Let's go," Raven rasped as she rose from the table and walked toward the front counter, followed by the boy and dragon.

The violet-haired girl turned to Elliot, "You should tell her you're leaving." He stared back cluelessly, 'Why?' Rather than answer the question, Raven shoved him roughly, causing Scarlet to flutter over to her shoulder instead.

'The brown haired female is clearly attracted to you. It would be a shame to leave her pining after you when we return to the Chaos Plane,' Scarlet explained matter-of-factly. Kyd Wykkyd felt his cheeks warm up, and Scarlet began to snicker. He glared at them both before he snatched a napkin from the desk and started writing.

Julie emerged from the kitchen, "Oh, sorry! I didn't realize you guys wanted your check." Elliot offered her the napkin, which she read quickly. "You're leaving again? For how long?", she asked sadly.

He froze up, unsure of how to answer. Raven facepalmed and decided to help him out. "He's going to a pocket dimension, which is nearly impossible to leave," she said in her signature monotone. Julie frowned, "So you're probably not coming back."

Elliot bit his lip awkwardly, and was about to write something else when Julie interrupted him. "Of course the only hot guy in a five block radius _would_ disappear into a pocket dimension.", she complained as she threw her hands up in the air. Elliot despised the blush that was creeping onto his face with all of his might, mentally willing it to go away.

"Sorry, Elliot. I didn't mean to embarrass you," the pretty brunette said with a concerned smile. Elliot's expression became a bit smug as the compliment went to his head. Suddenly the black haired boy leaned across the counter and placed his hands on Julie's shoulders, quickly jerking her forward and brushing his lips against hers.

'I like your tattoo,' a cool mental voice murmured in her mind as his hot breath fanned across her face. She stood frozen in surprise, her face turning cherry red, "T-Thanks..."

Kyd Wykkyd placed his wallet on the counter beside the cash Raven had left there. 'Take care,' he said, hoping she would understand that he didn't need the money anymore. If he was leaving for good, he'd rather leave his money with a family who needed it, instead of letting it sit in an unused bank account.

She nodded speechlessly, and he waved goodbye as he exited the cafe. He found Raven waiting for him outside with an impish smirk plastered across her face, "I didn't realize you were such a ladies' man." Scarlet snickered mockingly.

He shot them a steely glare and walked ahead.

–

See-More hugged Kyd Wykkyd and took a step back. "You were the best friend a guy could ask for. I'm gonna miss ya, Kyd," he sniffled sadly. "He's going away; he's not _dead_! Sheesh.", Gizmo complained loudly.

"But who's gonna build the pillow forts?", Billy Numerous whined. Mammoth cracked his knuckles, "Ah, I build 'em better anyways." Mammoth and a dozen Billys began to bicker about who built the best forts.

Jinx rushed forward and hugged Elliot tightly, "Be careful over there." She pulled away and poked his chest threateningly, "Don't. Die. That's an order." He smirked and saluted, 'You too.' He turned to face the swirling portal behind him, and Raven approached with Scarlet perched on her shoulder. "It's ready," she announced.

He pulled her into a tight embrace, which she returned fully, burying her face in his chest. "It will be difficult adjusting to not having you two around," she murmured in a muffled voice. 'I will miss fighting at your side,' Scarlet admitted sadly.

Raven felt Elliot's chest shake beneath her head, and determined that he was either laughing or crying. She pulled away to get a good look at his face, curious as to which emotion she would find there.

The pale teen was not wearing his cowl, so his messy black hair framed his pale face and threatened to obstruct his vision. His crimson eyes shone with amusement instead of tears, and his signature annoyingly carefree smile was in place. 'You'll see me again. I promise,' he stated in a laughing mental voice.

Raven's eyes narrowed, "You don't have the best track record for keeping promises." He nodded solemnly, 'I intend to change that.'

Scarlet suddenly leaped down from Raven's shoulder and grew to roughly the size of a horse. 'He will keep his word. I will make sure of it,' the dragon stated with a slight threat in her voice. Raven smirked, "I think you'll be fine with Scarlet around to straighten you out."

Elliot smiled and placed a hand on Raven's shoulder before turning to his former team and waving goodbye. They responded with a chorus of farewells while he pulled his cowl down over his head and grabbed his pack before leaping onto Scarlet's back.

A gust of wind mussed everyone's hair as Scarlet lifted off the ground and shot into the swirling portal. The sorceress sighed and closed it behind them reluctantly. Billy Numerous suddenly groaned, "Aw man! Did any of y'all notice that we got a Teen Titan in our living room?" Gizmo's eyes widened, "Crud! Now we gotta relocate!"

Jinx stepped toward Raven with a nervous smile, "Actually, I was hoping that there could be _two_ Teen Titans in the living room." The sorceress rubbed her chin, "I'm sure we could convince Robin to reinstate you."

Jinx beamed broadly, and See-More approached with a frown, "I thought you were gonna stay with us." The pink-haired witch shook her head at him, "Sorry, See-More. I came to help you guys take Psimon down, but I never switched sides."

With that, Raven opened a portal to the Tower, and both girls stepped through.

–

**Six Years Later...**  
–

Red lights flashed as the Titans' alarm blared over the loudspeakers. Raven rolled out of her bed with expert ease and pulled on her boots. A quick glance at her clock let her know it was around four o' clock in the morning.

Nightwing was already at the computer when she arrived in the Common Room, trailed by the rest of the team. Robin had adopted the new look on this twentieth birthday, and though his hair wasn't as long as Starfire had described yet, it hung down in his face rather than being spiked up.

The rest of the team had also updated their own costumes. Starfire wore a purple bodysuit that was accented with pieces of lightweight silver armor, Beast Boy wore a white and purple suit, and was now known as Changeling. Cyborg had updated his tech, and Raven had opted for a full-body suit beneath her cloak, rather than her former leotard.

Changeling rubbed his eyes blearily, "Dude, why doesn't anyone ever sleep in this city?" Nightwing spoke as if he hadn't heard the green man's question, "There's trouble on Main Street!" Cyborg frowned, "What is it?"

Their leader frowned at them from behind his mask, "The report says...it's a knight and a dragon." Changeling let out a sharp bark of a laugh, "Drunken distress call?"

Nightwing shook his head, "No, it's from the police." Starfire's eyes sparked with green energy, "It is the dragon Malchior, yes?" Raven shrugged, "Maybe. Either way, we need to get to it before it destroys the city." Their leader nodded, "Let's go!"

As they approached the place in question, they noticed a plume of flames shooting into the clouds above the buildings. They landed on the buildings close to the intersection near the origin of the fire, and realized that a giant reptile was hovering in the middle of it.

Early morning traffic had come to a standstill, and cop cars surrounded the area, the lights atop the vehicles doing little to illuminate the dark figure of the creature. The biting wind reminded the Titans that it was indeed winter.

Amazingly, nothing was on fire, as the flames had been shooting into the air rather than at buildings or people. Nightwing landed atop a semi that had stopped in front of the monster, and the other Titans surrounded it on all sides.

It let out what sounded a bit like a huffing laugh while smoke billowed from its nostrils. The dragon suddenly dropped in altitude and landed, the ground shaking as it touched down.

The news helicopter above turned the floodlights on the creature, revealing that there was indeed a man perched on its back. He was dressed almost entirely in black. He wore armor, but seemed to be wearing the bare minimum, a sign of a warrior who valued mobility over safety.

He wore a long black cape with serrated edges and carried a sword on his hip. He stepped forward and removed his helmet, revealing sleek black hair and ruby red eyes. He turned to face Raven with an arrogant grin on his face, 'Told you I'd come back.'

The rest of the Titans stared blankly as the sorceress leaped forward and wrapped her arms around the strange young man. Upon pulling away, she shoved him backward with her signature glare in place, "Six years? Really?"

The red eyed man shrugged, 'The Dragon Wars kept us busy for a while.' Scarlet snorted her amusement, 'Quite busy, at that. We needed to restore a semblance of peace before we could visit.'

Raven pursed her lips, "As excuses go, I'd say that's a pretty good one." Nightwing cleared his throat loudly, and the sorceress suddenly remembered about the news crews, police officers, and civilians that were gathered around the scene.

She gestured for the police to stand down, and announced to her team, "They're friends."

Starfire immediately allowed her starbolts to fizzle out of existence while Cyborg lowered his sonic canon, and Changeling reverted to human form. The sorceress frowned, "Why don't we continue this conversation back at the Tower?"

Scarlet shrunk down to sit on Elliot's shoulder, much like Raven remembered her always doing. The armored man glanced at the police officers, who seemed quite nervous with the whole situation. Scarlet scoffed, 'A wonderful idea. Those humans look absolutely terrified.'

–

The Titans and Elliot sat around on the huge sectional couch in the Common Room, arrayed on the coffee table was an assortment of snack foods. The dark haired male sat next to Raven, who stroked Scarlet's scaly head. "So you're Kyd Wykkyd, right?", Changeling questioned before stuffing a handful of potato chips in his mouth.

'I was. Kinda dropped the "Kyd" part during the war.'

"Remind me why we aren't throwing him in jail?", the green man asked innocently through the food in his mouth. Raven shot him a glare, but he seemed unfazed. Cyborg frowned, "He _did_ kill a man on international television."

Nightwing's expression became strained, and he shifted uncomfortably, "We aren't arresting him for several reasons. It was _his_ plan that freed the world from a telepathic dictator. -cough- Fatality aside. Also, I think Raven would prefer it if we didn't attack her friend."

Cyborg and Changeling realized that their friend was having a tough time making an exception for their guest, and decided to leave it alone. Starfire cuddled up to his shoulder, an action that she had long since learned would calm her fiancé. It worked, of course, as Nightwing relaxed instantaneously. Raven turned to Elliot, "So what all happened when you returned to the Chaos Plane?"

The black haired man scratched his head as he thought, 'Long story short, we arrived back at the island and headed for the mainland. We found this village being attacked by some of the criminals, and we stopped them. We realized that things had gotten even worse since we left.'

'We were scouting for a place to camp when we found another dragon named Elden. We found out that he knew where many others were residing, and he also had traveling companion. She's a humanoid named Illiana. They're a lot like Scarlet and me.'

'We banded together along with a few other dragons in hopes of bringing order back to the land, but it was difficult since our numbers were so low. We met others in the villages who shared our desire for progress and soon we were training peace-keeping troops. The criminals didn't appreciate our attempts to stop the looting, and started organizing to attack us.'

'They used our alliance with the dragons as fuel for their cause, recruiting looters and dragon hunters alike, and soon a small battalion was marching on Windsworth Village, the town we used as our base of operations. The resulting battle became the first of the Dragon Wars. A man called General Kaa'reh became the commander of the opposing army. He was a ruthless warlord in his home dimension, and used the unrest to rise to power.'

'He wore a cloak of dragon skin,' Scarlet spat with disgust.

Elliot nodded, 'He vowed that he wouldn't stop until every dragon had been beheaded, and every village belonged to him. The villagers refused to bow down to him, and sided with the dragons. We spent the last four and a half years fighting him and his troops, and Elden and Illiana were the ones to finally take him down. This past year was spent putting down rebellions and holding conferences. After a lot of deliberation, we installed a representative government much like the one in the United States.'

Raven's expression was full of surprise, "Wow, you've been busy. I never saw you as a military commander. I'm impressed." Elliot shrugged, 'We were a team.' Nightwing seemed astonished as well, "It's a lot to take in. From what Raven told us, the Chaos Plane really lived up to its name."

The boy nodded, and Scarlet spoke, 'Yes, it was a difficult endeavor, but the four of us proved quite capable. The dragons are moving toward being treated as equals, and the Council set plans in motion to pave roads and build cities.'

The sorceress allowed a slight smile to grace her features, "So how long are you staying?" The armored man glanced upwards in thought, 'Maybe a week or two. We can't be too long, since our vacation leaves two empty seats in the Council.'

Raven raised an eyebrow, "So you two are both elected officials?" He smiled proudly, 'Yes, we were chosen by popular vote.' Scarlet stretched and yawned, 'The people love him.'

Changeling snorted, "That's ironic. Ow!", he exclaimed as Cyborg elbowed him harshly. Wykkyd smirked, 'It's fine. The irony isn't lost on me.' He rubbed his chin, 'I was actually pretty surprised myself.'

The green man yawned and stood up, beginning to shuffle toward the elevator, "Well, I'm gonna try to get one more hour of sleep before training. See ya in a few."

Elliot rubbed his eyes as he suddenly remembered that he had unintentionally pulled an all-nighter while traveling with Scarlet. The tiny dragon was napping on Raven's lap, and the sorceress's lilac eyes widened slightly, "You two haven't slept, have you?" Wykkyd yawned, 'I'm fine'.

Raven scowled and shoved him, which seemed like a harsh gesture to the rest of the Titans, but Elliot recognized it as playful. 'Oh, you've done it now', he stated in a warning tone as he gathered into a crouch, not unlike a snake poised to strike. Nightwing, Cyborg, and Starfire all stiffened, misreading their banter as a conflict.

The sorceress glared at him, "Not now. Scarlet's sleeping." Elliot grinned mischievously as he shifted is weight on the balls of his feet, still not relaxing his threatening stance, 'So later, then?' Raven rolled her eyes, "Whatever will shut you up."

He immediately flopped back onto the couch, his exhaustion finally showing through his facade. The Titans finally relaxed their tense positions as they realized that the impending conflict had apparently been resolved.

–

Raven had been sitting on the couch reading for what seemed like an eternity to Changeling; he could never wrap his head around how she could sit still for so long. He had mellowed out a bit with age, but he accepted the fact that he would never be able to sit in one spot and read for hours at a time.

He remembered when Raven recounted her experience of the Chaos Plane to the team, and his own shock when she mentioned that Kyd Wykkyd had become a very close friend to her. He'd assumed her friend was as calm and collected as she was, as he couldn't see her enjoying the constant companionship of someone who wasn't a total stick in the mud.

Based on his impression of Elliot from last night, this might not be the case. He waited impatiently for Wykkyd to wake up so he could watch him interact with Raven. He chuckled to himself as he realized how ridiculous that sounded, even in his own mind.

"Gar, what are you doing?", Raven asked in a bored tone. He froze. Everyone knew Raven couldn't read minds, but times like this made him wonder if they'd all been lied to. "Nothing," he assured her in his normal tone. The sorceress allowed a soft sigh to escape her lips, "So you're doing nothing. Which means you're just sitting there staring at me while I'm trying to read."

He blinked, "Uh, when you put it that way..." He was saved by the entrance of Robin and Starfire, who were engaged in an interesting conversation about their impending wedding. It was difficult to add in enough Tamaranean culture to appease Starfire while still allowing the human guests to feel comfortable. Cakes that moved weren't exactly the social norm at these events.

They took a seat at the table to discuss matters further. A few minutes later, Cyborg emerged from working in the garage and headed to the sink to wash the oil off of his hands. They had resumed their usual routine when the door swished open to reveal Wykkyd, who was again garbed in all black and a cape, with a little less armor than when he arrived. His damp hair hung down in his face, signaling that he'd just taken a shower.

Nightwing greeted him cordially, and he nodded his head in acknowledgement before he abruptly teleported in front of Raven and stole her book, flitting out of sight as she reached to snatch it back. The sorceress growled, "Elliot. If you don't give me my book back _right_ now-"

He casually dropped it on the coffee table before turning to face her with a grin across his face. 'It's later,' he said simply, before loosening the straps that held his cape to his armor and letting the cloth drop to the floor.

Wykkyd suddenly sunk into a battle-ready crouch, silently moving toward Raven with the grace of a cat. She immediately dropped her cloak, leaped over the couch, and landed in an identical stance. After a tense pause, they jumped toward each other. The Titans flinched as the two began what looked more like a choreographed dance than a fight.

Elliot and Raven moved over and around each other as it were clockwork; weaving in and out with expert ease, though it was obvious that neither of them were going easy on the other. Changeling simply stared, transfixed by the display of speed and agility. The Titans watched in wonder as Elliot suddenly faltered, allowing Raven's foot to connect with his side.

He immediately grabbed hold of the foot, swung her around, and slammed her into the couch. She made to get back on her feet, but Elliot was already leaping for her. She simply planted her feet on his stomach and used his momentum to catapult him over the back of the sofa. He knocked the coffee table over as he touched down and before he could regain his senses, Raven was already there standing over him. He moved to get up, but she roughly placed her foot on his chest and shoved him back down.

Her actions forced the air from his lungs, creating a loud whooshing sound as it blew past his lips. The empath crossed her arms across her chest, a twinkle of amusement in her violet eyes. "I win," she stated. The sorceress removed her foot from his chest and offered her hand to help him up.

–

The Titans and their two guests sat around the circular table at their favorite triangular pizza place, while Nightwing and Starfire discussed wedding venues with Cyborg; Raven, Scarlet, and Elliot continued to catch up. Changeling remained uncharacteristically quiet as he listened to Wykkyd's detailed descriptions of life in the Chaos Plane. Morbid curiosity seemed to get the best of him

'I think you'd like Illiana. It's too bad that we didn't bump into her before we left to fight Psimon,' Elliot commented as he bit into a slice of pizza. "She sounds like an excellent strategist," Raven agreed. 'Illiana is brilliant, but I am partial to Elden myself,' Scarlet remarked.

Elliot smirked at the tiny dragon mischievously, 'Oh I know you are.' Scarlet snarled a warning, 'Don't you dare.'

Wykkyd turned to Raven, 'Scarlet is expecting.' A small jet of fire skimmed the air above Elliot's head as the dragon roared irritably. The sorceress's eyes grew wide, "You mean..." Scarlet huffed, 'I wished to tell you myself, but he ruined it.'

After shooting a glare Wykkyd's way, she continued, 'Elden is my mate. For dragons, it is a lifelong bond. He was rather irritable when I decided to make this trip without him, but we couldn't have more than two members of the Council missing at once.' Raven nodded, "We'll have to work it out so that I can meet your little ones after they're born."

At some point, Starfire had started listening in, and she squealed with delight, "Scarlet will be having the babies, yes? I cannot wait to have a bumgorf of my own!"

Nightwing blanched as the looming responsibilities of fatherhood came to mind, and Cyborg snickered mercilessly. Changeling grinned at the thought of being an uncle, and how he could train the child to be the coolest kid ever. He wondered what Nightwing was so afraid of; it was obvious that they would make excellent parents.

"Speaking of children, I thought you'd like to know that Julie is happily married with two kids," Raven interjected. Elliot grinned joyfully, 'That's great! I'm happy for her.' Raven pursed her lips, "What about you? Anyone special in your life?" The young man rolled his eyes, 'Scarlet's the only woman in my life. We have an awesome love triangle.' The crimson dragon snorted loudly, 'Certainly.'

"Being single is nothing to be ashamed of, most of us are unattached. Superhero life isn't very conducive to relationships," Raven commented wisely. "Ain't _that_ the truth," Cyborg muttered resentfully. Changeling chuckled, "Ladies don't like it when you have to run out in the middle of a date to fight off an invasion."

Elliot raised an eyebrow, 'It's so strange having so much in common with all of you.' The green man shrugged, "You kinda did a full one-eighty, dude. Doesn't surprise me that you understand the superhero struggle now."

'I really do, and that seems odd to me. I never meant to become a hero when I returned to The Chaos Plane, but somehow I ended up starting the Dragon Wars. Even after all the fighting and rebuilding, I'm still struggling to be a functional member of a society that I had a large part of establishing myself," Wykkyd's shoulders shook with a silent fit of laughter, and Scarlet joined in with a quiet chuckle, 'Fate has a sense of humor.'

Raven tapped her chin thoughtfully, "I'm glad that you decided to come and visit, but I still don't understand why you felt the need to rile up the police force and drag us out of bed at four o' clock in the morning."

He grinned devilishly, 'We got your attention, didn't we?'

**-END-**

* * *

**A/N: That wraps up The Chaos Plane. It's been a crazy ride, and I'm so glad that you all have enjoyed it. Hopefully this story did something to add to your life, whether it was a distraction from unpleasant events, or just something fun to do in your free time.**

**I've enjoyed being a fanfiction writer again these past few months, and I'm sad to see it come to an end. Hopefully I'll write more stories in the future. Teen Titans is my first love, and I always come back.**

**(Also, I drew a rough sketch of Elliot's armor. I'm posting it on thatwykkydkid tumblr.)**

**Reviews are much appreciated!**

**~Rose**


	20. Bonus Chapter

**A/N: In honor of the 100th review for The Chaos Plane, I have written a short drabble-ish chapter. It takes place between the last chapter and the Epilogue.**

**(If you don't remember what happened, reading the Epilogue again would be a good refresher.)**

**Enjoy!**

**Bonus Chapter:**

The wind roared in Elliot's ears as Scarlet shot through the air, and for a few seconds he wondered if he should be worried about damaging his hearing. The ground came into view, and the glint of steel in the bright afternoon sun decorated the ground.

Scarlet pulled out of her dive just in time to alight gracefully in the middle of the battlefield, the gust of wind knocking over a good number of soldiers.

Elliot disappeared from her back, flitting in and out of existence between his enemies, and providing cover for Scarlet. "It's about time you got here!" a female voice called from a few feet away as she pulled one of her broadswords from an enemy.

The dark haired boy smirked as he sailed over her head, landing a fierce kick to a soldier's face.

'Where is Elden?' Scarlet questioned. "Guarding the Gates. He's got it covered," the woman replied, casually dodging an arrow.

'Kaa'reh?' Elliot asked shortly. "He's not here. He's obviously playing us," she replied crossly as she swung her swords around with practiced ease.

Scarlet's fire blazed past them, searing scorch marks onto the ground and lighting anything flammable on fire. 'He will pay for what he has done,' the crimson dragon roared defiantly.

...

As the troops sat around the bar celebrating their victory, Elliot sat alone in a corner booth watching the warriors enjoy themselves. General Kaa'reh had finally been defeated after a long and arduous battle.

"To Illiana!" a man shouted, followed by a loud chorus of assent. The woman in question smiled and raised her glass obligingly. "To Elden!" a battle-hardened woman called. "Hear, hear!" the bar bellowed.

"To Wykkyd and Scarlet," Illiana announced, causing the room to erupt in cheers. Before he knew it, Elliot was being hoisted up onto someone's shoulders and carried over to the center of the room.

"It's a time for celebration, Sir," the man explained while lowering him down to the ground.

Elliot chuckled and accepted a glass from the kind bartender. A rag-tag band of musicians struck up a tune, and the bar became filled with celebratory dancing.

He watched the troops bounce around joyfully from his spot on a bar stool, glad that the Dragon Wars were finally over. Scarlet and Elden had attended their own banquet, which had been thrown by their people.

As the night wore on, he found himself wondering what Raven might have been doing, and resolved to go visit her when things calmed down. Illiana, who stood before him with an expectant smirk, shook him from his reverie.

"Come dance with me," she commanded haughtily. Elliot rolled his eyes, and she simply grabbed his wrist and pulled him out of his seat. "It'll be fun," she assured him, pulling him into the middle of the dancers.

Though he hated to admit it, he did end up having fun.

...

If Raven never saw another rabbit for the rest of her life, it would be too soon. Mumbo Jumbo had finally been returned to his prison cell, and she was about ready to hide in her room to escape anything that remotely resembled a rabbit.

She smirked as she remembered smoking a rabbit creature over a campfire with Elliot once. "That smile is never good," Beast Boy commented drily. Raven narrowed her eyes, "I wasn't smiling."

He shrugged, "Call it what you want. I bet you were thinking about setting bunnies on fire." Raven raised an eyebrow, "Wow. You're getting good at this."

The green teenager shrugged, "Educated guess. At this point, even _I_ want to set them on fire." The sorceress chuckled, shaking her head. Beast Boy grinned slyly and made finger guns at her, "Made ya laugh."

Raven truly appreciated Beast Boy's latest attempts at humor. It seemed that he'd begun to cater to her personality when cracking his jokes, which meant he was more likely to actually be funny. It also meant that he'd learned something over the years, which proved that he truly _did_ have a brain.

Starfire giddily skipped down the road, dragging Robin behind her. A day full of bunnies was a day full of joy for Starfire, and she wasn't about to let the fact that they were really bombs spoil her fun.

Cyborg trudged along behind them, muttering something about respect and his car. His "baby" had been lost in a tragic bunny-related accident that morning, and he was far from over it.

As she walked to the pizza place with her friends, she couldn't help but to wonder what Elliot was doing in the Chaos Plane.

Perhaps he was somewhere wondering the same thing.


End file.
